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STUDIES  m  HISTORY,  ECONOMICS  AND  PUBLIC  LAW 

EDITED  BY  THE  FACULTY  OF  POLITICAL  SCIENCE 
OF  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 

Volume  Lffl  Whole  Number  131 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND 
RECONSTRUCTION   IN   FLORIDA 


BY 

WILLIAM  WATSON  DAVIS,  Ph.D. 

Assistant  Professor,  American  History 

University  of  Kansas 

Sometime  University  Fellow  in  American  History 

Columbia  University 


COLUMBIA   UNIVERSITY 

LONGMANS,  GREEN  &  CO.,  AGENTS 
London  :  P.  S.  King  &  Son 

1913 


Copyright,  1913 

BY 

WILLIAM  WATSON  DAVIS 


TO 

MY  FATHER 
MATTHEW  LIVINGSTON  DAVIS 

OF  ALABAMA 


6C6435 


PREFACE 

Before  this  monograph  on  Florida  was  begun  Ameri- 
can historians  had  presented  with  admirable  clearness 
and  breadth  the  essential  facts  and  principles  involved  in 
the  momentous  issues  which  confronted  the  nation  for 
more  than  a  decade  after  1861.  The  field  had  been  fairly 
explored.  Little  that  was  both  broadly  significant  and 
new  remained  unexploited.  The  present  work  is  there- 
fore something  like  a  small  section  of  a  long  appendix. 
It  belongs  logically  to  that  body  of  monographic  litera- 
ture which  usually  follows  the  stimulating  analysis  of  a 
period  or  of  an  extended  institution.  The  crop  of  Civil 
War  and  Reconstruction  monographs  is  steadily  increas- 
ing and  today  at  least  exhibits  evidences  of  good  inten- 
tion and  industry  on  the  part  of  the  monographists. 
Maybe  from  these  detailed  studies  a  wiser  and  juster  in- 
terpretation of  the  period  will  be  produced  for  some 
later  generation,  although  nothing,  not  even  mono- 
graphs, can  save  a  generation  from  seeking  what  it  de- 
sires, which  in  matters  historical  seems  to  be  history  that 
is  proven  ("authentic"  is  the  word  usually  heard)  and 
interesting  ("just  like  a  romance"  is  the  phrase) — re- 
gardless of  the  facts  in  the  case.  People  seem  to  want 
their  opinions  on  past  politics  ready-made,  and  there  is 
a  successful  efTort  to  supply  the  small  demand.  This  is 
evidently  not  a  phenomenon  of  our  utilitarian  age. 
Montaigne  referred  to  it  more  than  three  centuries  ago. 
"  The  middle  sort  of  historians  (of  which  the  most  are)," 
he   concluded   sadly,  "spoil   it  all;  they  will   chew  our 


Vlll 


PREFACE 


meat  for  us  .  .  .  they  pass  judgment  and  consequently 
twist  history  to  suit  their  fancy." 

The  object  of  this  particular  monograph  can  be  suc- 
cinctly stated  because  the  object  is  simple;  namely,  to 
present  the  course  of  political  events  in  Florida  through 
a  limited  period,  to  show  how  national  policies  affected 
local  politics  there,  to  supplement  in  a  small  way  what  is 
already  well  known  concerning  the  history  of  the  nation 
at  large.  No  facts  or  conclusions  of  very  broad  signifi- 
cance are  presented  here  for  the  first  time.  No  claim  is 
made  to  revolutionary,  original,  or  particularly  new 
explanation  of  what  took  place  in  Florida  or  out.  It  is 
probably  just  as  well  that  the  striking  and  original 
features  of  this  book  are  left  out,  for  it  is  thick  enough 
as  it  is — which  is  a  sign  of  literary  youth,  I  am  told. 

I  undertook  the  writing  of  this  monograph  on  the  sug- 
gestion of  Professor  William  A.  Dunning,  in  whose  semi- 
nar at  Columbia  University  I  was  a  student  when  the 
suggestion  was  madfe  to  me.  The  work  has  slowly 
reached  completion  under  the  eye  of  Professor  Dunning. 
To  him  I  am  sincerely  grateful  for  what  I  believe  to  be 
the  best  help  that  a  student  of  the  Civil  War  and  Recon- 
struction can  receive  on  the  subject. 

In  writing  this  book  I  have  encountered  the  diffi- 
culties and  disappointments  incident  to  historical  investi- 
gation. I  have  found  surviving  testimony  very  thin  on 
some  subjects.  I  have  found  many  clear  gaps  in  the 
surviving  records.  The  historical  material  which  is 
available  is  in  reality  scattered  and  scant.  Hence  there 
are  gaps  and  thin  places  in  this  study.  These  short- 
comings can  best  be  appreciated  by  reading  the  mono- 
graph. It  does  not  become  me  to  point  them  out.  I 
have  written  too  much  already  about  the  book.  "  The 
author  who  speaks  about  his  own  book,"  wrote  Benja- 


PREFACE 


IX 


min  Disraeli,  with  the  insight  of  one  who  had  many 
books  but  no  children  to  his  credit,  "is  almost  as  bad  as 
the  mother  who  talks  about  her  own  children." 

It  has  been  my  object  to  supplement  as  much  as  pos- 
sible scientific  use  of  documents  by  conversations  with 
some  of  those  men  and  women  who  personally  experi- 
enced the  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction  in  Florida.  I 
am  much  indebted  to  many  of  them  for  advice  and  in- 
formation, particularly  to  Mr.  Daniel  Brent  and  the  late 
Mr.  Edward  Anderson  of  Pensacola,  to  Mr.  William 
Trimmer  of  Molino,  to  Judge  P.  W.  White  of  Quincy, 
to  Mrs.  Chapman,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Barnes  of  Marianna, 
to  ex-Governor  Bloxham,  Judge  Hocker,  Judge  Taylor, 
Judge  Bernard,  Judge  Raney  and  the  late  Colonel  Fred. 
L.  Robertson  of  Tallahassee.  I  have  been  greatly  aided 
through  advice  and  documentary  material  presented  by 
other  friends  and  acquaintances  —  younger  men  and 
women  than  the  foregoing.  My  uncle,  Philip  Keyes 
Yonge  of  Pensacola,  put  his  valuable  library  at  my  dis- 
posal. My  cousin,  Julien  C.  Yonge  of  Pensacola,  through 
his  scholarly  insight  aided  me  greatly  in  obtaining  his- 
torical material.  For  various  helpful  suggestions  and 
kindnesses  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  William  Mil- 
ton, Judge  Carter,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Walker  of  Marianna, 
Mr.  F.  F.  Bingham  of  Pensacola,  Mr.  W.  L.  Cawthon  of 
De  Funiak  Springs,  Judge  Parkhill  of  Tallahassee,  Col- 
onel Choate  of  Tallahassee,  Miss  Maggie  Williams  of 
Tallahassee  and  Miss  Gamble  of  Virginia. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  manuscript  for  the  printer  I 
was  faithfully  and  efficiently  aided  by  Mr.  F.  W.  Charles- 
worth,  Mr.  Earle  Moore  and  Mr.  R.  E.  L.  Gunning, 
students  in  the  University  of  Kansas,  and  by  Mr.  F.  I. 
Carter  of  Lawrence,  Kansas. 

The  proof  was  read  by  Professor  Dunning,  whose  sug- 


X  PREFACE 

gestions  and  corrections  proved  invaluable  to  me.  I  am 
indebted  to  Professor  Edwin  R.  A.  Seligman  for  his 
kindly  interest  in  getting  the  work  into  press.  In  the 
revision  of  the  proof  my  sister,  Sarah  Caroline  Davis, 
helped  me  greatly  by  her  careful,  patient  work.  For 
sound  criticism  and  never-failing  encouragement  I  am 
deeply  indebted  to  two  very  dear  kinswomen :  Mrs. 
Malcolm  C.  Anderson  and  Miss  M.  Louise  Sullivan  of 
New  York. 

Finally  I  wish  to  acknowledge  the  substantial  help  and 
steady  encouragement  rendered  by  my  father,  to  whom 
this  volume  is  dedicated.  He  has  shown  deep  interest  in 
the  work  in  spite  of  his  many  pressing  business  cares.  He 
has  sympathized  intelligently  with  me  in  those  inevitable 
difficulties  that  are  apt  to  come,  I  am  told,  to  young 
writers.  He  has  backed  me  up  consistently  from  first 
to  last.  His  aid  made  the  publication  of  this  history 
possible. 

William  Watson  Davis. 

The  University  of  Kansas, 
Lawrence,  Kansas,  December  i,  1912. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


BOOK  I 

THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS 

CHAPTER  I 

The  Evolution  of  a  Slave- Holding  Commonwealth 

Historical  background.    Colonial  Florida   3 

The  civilized  population  of  Spanish  Florida  9 

The  coming  of  the  Americans  II 

The  sale  of  the  public  land  13 

The  beginning  of  Territorial  politics   15 

The  rise  of  the  planter  class  17 

The  poor  whites   20 

The  bank  question  in  Territorial  Florida  22 

The  Union  Bank  a3 

"  Flush  Times " — boom  towns   24 

The  panic  of   1837   25 

The  defeat  in  politics  of  the  large  planters.     Revolt  against  capi- 
talism       26 

CHAPTER  H 

The  Last  Years  of  the  Ante-Bellum  RfeciME 

.The  Seminole  war  and  the  panic.     Depression  30 

Economic  development  during  the  fifties   ^2 

Growing  hostility  to  the  North.     The  political  crisis  of  1850  35 

Southern-rights  Democrats  of  Florida  36 

Sectional  animosity  " 37 

The  rise  of  the  Constitutional  Union  party  38 

Florida  and  the  Charleston  Convention.     The  divided  Democracy.  39 

The  campaign  of  i860  in  Florida  41 

Lawlessness.     Evidences  of  physical  coercion  42 

The  portentous  signs  of  the  times 44 

The  election  of  i860  in  Florida   45 

xi 


Xii  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

FAOft 

CHAPTER  III 

Secession 

Protest  against  the  election  of  Lincoln.    The  call  to  arms 47 

Efforts  to  stem  the  tide  of  secession   49 

Why  the  people  of  the  South  opposed  the  North  50 

The  views  of  Senator  Mallory  and  President  Buchanan  51 

The  number  and  location  of  farms  and  slave-holders  in  Florida  . .  5* 

Popular  opinion  throughout  Florida.    Impending  revolution 53 

The  convening  of  the  Secession  Convention,  January  3d,  1861 5^ 

Two  ways  of  seceding.    The  Convention  chooses  the  quicker 58 

(Radical  advi'-.e  from  other  states.    A  commissioner  from  the  Re- 
public of  South  Carolina 59 

Efforts  of  conservatives  to  delay  action   61 

Passage  of  the  Ordinance  of  Secession,  January  10th,  1861  63 

Florida  "a  Nation."    Enthusiasm.    The  question  of  Northern  debts.  65 

Completing  the  process  of  secession  67 

The  spirit  of  the  revolution   68 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  Seizure  of  Federal  Property  and  the  Raising  of  Troops 

Secession  leaders  plan  to  seize  Federal  fortifications  in  Florida. .  69 

The  Federal  War  Department  is  informed  of  the  danger 70 

-  The  seizure  of  forts  and  arsenals  by  state  troops  71 

The  situation  on  Pensacola  bay:  peaceable  surrender  or  hazardous 

defense  ?   74 

Discord  and  indecision  among  Federal  officers  in  West  Florida. .  76 
Slemmer's  move  across  the  channel.    Barrancas  and  McRee  aban- 
doned      77 

State  militia  prepares  to  seize  the  navy-yard  and  forts  79 

The  surrender  of  the  jPensacola  navy-yard 81 

The  conservative  course  of  Wm.  Chase.   No  effort  to  take  Pickens.  83 

Executive  radicalism  in  accord  with  the  times  85 

The  severing  of  actual  administrative  and  political  relations  with 

the  Union    86 

Florida's  ante-bellum  militia.    Militia  elections.     Reorganization..  87 

The  first  troops.    The  origin  of  Florida's  war  militia  88 

The  organization  of  the  Confederate  Army.     First  requisitions  . .  90 

The  arming,  mobilizing  and  maintenance  of  troops  91 

Popular  response  to  the  alarm.    Troops  raised  in  Florida  during 

the  first  year  of  war  94 

The  Confederate  military  system  absorbs  that  of  the  states  95 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  xiii 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  V 
The  Fort  Pickens  Truce 

The  policy  of  President  Buchanan :  constitutional  conservatism  . .  97 

The  forts  in  Florida  and  South  Carolina.     Impending  war  99 

The  origin  of  the  Fort  Pickens  Truce.    Buchanan  consistent 100 

Fort  Pickens  at  the  mercy  of  state  troops 102 

Lincoln  and  the  Fort  Pickens  Truce.    A  change  of  policy 104 

The  Pickens  relief  expedition 105 

The  mobilization  of  a  Confederate  army  on  Pensacola  bay.     The 

Truce  utilized    107 

The  misdirected  orders  to  break  the  Truce.     Pickens  not  rein- 
forced      108 

Special    despatches    through    Confederate    lines.      Pickens    rein- 
forced      108 

Lincoln's  policy  of  reinforcement  known  in  the  Confederate  war 

department    iii 

EflForts  to  bribe  members  of  the  Pickens  garrison  112 

The  Southern  volunteers  on  Pensacola  bay  114 

Confederate  fortifications  and  troops.     Russell's  testimony  117 

The  interior  of  Fort  Pickens  120 

Continuation  of  the  armed  truce  in  the  "Sebastopol  of  America"..  121 

The  significance  of  mobilizing  the  Army  of  Pensacola  122 

BOOK  II 

THE  CIVIL  WAR 

CHAPTER  VI 

The  Beginning  of  Hostiuties  in  Florida 

The  burning  of  the  dry  dock  and  the  attack  on  the  Judah 125 

Confederate  preparations  for  reprisal   127 

The  engagement  before  dawn  on  Santa  Rosa  island  129 

The  results  of  the  engagement  132 

The  first  duel  of  the  forts 133 

Results  of  the  bombardment  13S 

The  development  of  the  conflict.    A  far-flung  frontier 138 

The  aggressive  movement  in  the  West  and  the  depletion  of  sea- 

bdard   armies    139 

Military  weakness  in  Florida.     Causes  140 

The  "  One  Year  Men  "  and  the  disbanding  of  the  state  militia 143 


j^  TABLE  OP  CONTENTS 

PACK 

The  Confederate  war  department's  defensive  policy  on  the  Flor- 
ida coast    144 

The  transmission  of  the  pressure  to  Florida.  Troops  ordered  to 
Tennessee  146 

Preparations  to  abandon  the  seaboard.    Public  opinion 148 

CHAPTER  VII 
Federal  Invasion 

The  origin  of  the  Federal  invasion  of  East  Florida 150 

The  raid  upon  Cedar  Keys,  Gulf  railway  terminus  151 

The  sailing  of  the  Florida  expedition  of  invasion  from  Port  Royal.  153 
The  arrival  of  the  Federal  squadron.     Flight  from  Fernandina  . .   155 
The  Federal  descent  upon  Jacksonville  and  the  burnings  by  Con- 
federate irregulars   156 

The  occupation  of  Jacksonville  by  Federal  troops.  Public  senti- 
ment there  157 

The  peaceful  conquest  of  St.  Augustine  159 

The  military  situation  in  East  Florida.     The  promising  outlook 

of  Unionists   160 

The  Gulf  coast.    Garrison  duty  161 

The  Federal  visit  at  Apalachicola.    Awful  destitution 162 

Pensacola  after  a  year  of  war.    Weeds  and  desolation 164 

Preparations  to  abandon  Pensacola.     Destruction  of  property  by 

Confederate  military   165 

Evacuation.     The  destruction  of  the  navy-yard  by  Confederate 

orders    l^ 

The  occupation  of  Pensacola  by  Federal  troops 168 

The  abandonment  of  Jacksonville  by  Federal  troops  and  its  reoc- 

cupation    169 

The  second  abandonment  of  Jacksonville  and  its  reoccupation  a 

second  time  171 

The  third  abandonment.   The  burning  of  Jacksonville.  Vandalism.  173 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Economic  Adjustment  to  the  Wab 

The  effect  of  secession  on  the  state  constitution 175 

Secession  measures  and  war  measures  176 

State  financial  measures  to  meet  the  crisis.    Bonds  and  notes >  177 

The  depreciation  of  securities.     Efforts  to  uphold  values 179 

War-time  currency.    Recapitulation  of  conditions  in  Florida 181 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  XV 

PAGE 

Speculation  in  currency  and  supplies.     Legislative  eflforts  to  con- 
trol  speculation    183 

Increased  public  expenditure :  state  troops,  war  supplies,  Confed- 
erate tax,  indigent  185 

The  operation  and  incidence  of  the  Confederate  Impressment  Act 

and  Direct  Tax  Act   186 

State  aid  to  the  indigent  and  starving  families  of  soldiers 188 

Conflict  in  the  enforcement  of  Confederate  and  state  laws 190 

The  Yulee  sugar  case.    Conflict  between  private  owner  and  Con- 
federate agent   192 

The  Florida  railroad-iron  case.    Serious  controversy  over  impress- 
ment     193 

Public  opinion  in  the  railroad-iron  case.     Conflict  between  civil 

and  military  authorities   194 

War-time  business.     Blockade-running  in  Florida   196 

The  evil  effects  of  blockade  trade 198 

Did  the  blockade  trade  pay  ?   201 

War-time   industry:    salt-making   in    Florida.      Confederate    and 

private  works  203 

The  destruction  of  salt  works  by  the  Federal  navy  205 

Agriculture,  industry  and  state  law.    'Speculation  210 

The  overseer  and  substitute  question.     Policy  of  the  unwarlike  ..211 

Exemptions  from  military  service.     Bonded  agriculturists   213 

A  synthetic  view  of  war-time  economy  in  Florida  215 

CHAPTER  IX 

The  Negro  and  the  War 

/  — ~^ 
Black  faithfulness  and  the  commendation  of  one-time  slaveholder^  218  J 

The  patrol  laws  of  i860.    Stricter  control  of  the  blacks.    Fear  , .  .^  !£ib 

The  negro  as  a  vital  economic  factor.    Overseers 221 

The  impressment  of  slaves  for  the  Confederate  Army 223 

Negro  recruits  from  Florida  in  the  Federal  Army.     The  "Corps 

d'Af rique  "    224 

The  question  of  black  troops  for  the  Confederate  service 225 

The  Confederate  congress  provides  for  negro  recruitment.    Flor- 
ida's quota  226 

Black  invaders.    Fear  of  servile  insurrection  228 

The  invasion  of  East  Florida  by  Higginson's  negro  brigade 230 

Raiding  by  negro  troops 232 

The  negro's  efficiency  as  a  soldier  in  Florida 234 

Social  experimentation.    Negro  schools  within  Federal  lines 235 


xvi  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PACE 

Political  experimentation.  Negro  political  meetings  and  patriotic 
parades    236 

The  legal  status  of  the  negro  in  Florida  within  Federal  lines 238 

Early  efforts  to  emancipate  by  military  order.  Hunter,  Morgan 
and  Terry   2^ 

Emancipation  by  military  order  at  Key  West 241 

CHAPTER  X 

Internal  Opposition  to  the  Confederacy:  Unionists  and  Deserters 

The  term  "  Union  Man."    Northern  traditions  243 

Native  Southern  Unionists.  Approximate  number  of  Union  sym- 
pathizers in  Florida 245 

Union  sentiment  in  Key  West.    Military  coercion  247 

Sequestration  and  confiscation  249 

The  rise  of  the  Unionist  politicians.  Protest  against  the  Confed- 
eracy   250 

Co-operation  of  the  military  with  East  Florida  reorganizers  251 

The  abandonment  of  Jacksonville  and  the  flight  of  Union  men 252 

The  National  Administration  takes  a  hand  in  East  Florida  poli- 
tics.   Disaster  254 

The  plan  of  Eli  Thayer :  economic  reconstruction  in  Florida 255 

Efforts  to  suppress  Union  sentiment.    Confederate  irregulars.    A 

reign  of  terror   257 

The  deserter  and  conscript  question.    Organization  among  those 

disloyal  to  the  Confederacy  258 

The  serious  aggression  of  deserters  and  bandits.  Efforts  to  sup- 
press them  259 

The  epistle  of  Strickland  and  the  "Florida  Royals"  in  the  "United 

States  of  Taylor "   262 

The  policy  of  the  Confederate  Government  toward  Deserters  in 

Florida    263 

The  causes  of  desertion.    Gov.  Milton's  opinion.    Conscription  and 

poverty    264 

Recapitulation.  The  problem  for  the  state  created  by  Union  men 
and  deserters   266 

CHAPTER  XI 

The  Olustee  Campaign 

The  failure  of  the  Confederates'  food  supply.     The  importance 

of  Florida  268 

Maj.  White's  circular  encourages  Federal  invasion  for  plunder  . .  270 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  xvii 

PACK 

Political  motives.    Lincoln's  reconstruction  policy.    Stickney's  in- 
trigues    273 

The  invasion  of  Florida  suggested.    Political  demonstrations 274 

Military  and  naval  preparation  for  the  invasion  of  Florida  276 

The  arrival  of  the  Federal  army.    Florida  open  to  invasion 277 

The  Henry  raid.    The  interior  penetrated  for  fifty  miles.    Desti- 
tution and  destruction  277 

The  cautious  movement  of  the  main  Federal  army.     Confederate 

outlook    280 

Confederate  preparations  at  Olustee.    Federal  forward  movement.  282 

The  morning  march  to  the  fatal  battlefield 286 

The  opening  of  the  battle  of  Olustee.   Confederate  troops  advance.  287 

Deployment  under  fire.    The  Federal  column  crushed 288 

The  defeat.    iRapid  retreat  of  the  Federal  army  toward  Jackson- 
ville   290 

The  battle  of   Olustee   checks   political   plans.     Northern   press 

opinion    293 

The  result  of  the  Olustee  campaign.     Cabinet  opinion  294 

CHAPTER  XII 

The  Last  Year's  Fighting 

The  Confederate  defenses  in  Northwest  Florida  296 

The  closing  phase  of  the  war  297 

The  war  in  East  Florida.    Skirmishers  and  torpedoes  on  the  St. 

Johns  298 

Raids  into  South  Florida.    Smyrna  and  Tampa 300 

Fighting  on  the  St.  Johns.    The  "  Columbine "  and  Dickison 301 

Federal  raiding  expeditions  from  Jacksonville.    Burning  and  plun- 
dering      303 

Central  and  West  Florida.    Asboth  at  Barrancas.    Neighborhood 

skirmishing    307 

Efforts  to  penetrate  the  interior.     Cedar  Keys  raids.    The  Mari- 

anna  tragedy  309 

Raiding  and  skirmishing  in  West  Florida.     Dickison  at   Station 

No.  4  312 

The  struggle  at  Natural  Bridge,  1865.    Defeat  of  the  invaders 314 


xviii  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

TAGS. 

BOOK  III 

POLITICAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

CHAPTER  XIII 

The  End  of  the  War 

The  end  of  the  South's  struggle  for  independence.    The  cost 319 

Florida's  part  in  the  struggle 322 

The  official  surrender  of  General  Jones   (C.   S.   A.)   to  General 

McCook    325 

The  restraints  of  law  removed.     Demoralization   329 

The  Federal  military  supplants  the  civil  authority 331 

The  state  government  abolished  by  military  orders  332 

Federal  policy  toward  political  leaders  334 

Arbitrary  restraints  on  free  speech.    Obstreperous  pastors   336 

Federal  garrisons.   Negro  soldiers  take  the  place  of  white  soldiers.  337 

The  Federal  military  attempts  to  protect  the  negro's  interests 339 

The  negroes  test  their  freedom  341 

The  Tribune's  summary  of  conditions  in  Florida  344 

CHAPTER  XIV 

Political  Reorganization 

The  new  period.    Retrospect  and  prejudice  346 

The  central  theme  of  Reconstruction  349 

Judge  Chase  and  Federal  patronage  in  Florida  350 

Reed's  letter  to  Blair  , 351 

The  provisional  governorship  353 

The  appointment  of  Judge  Marvin  provisional  governor  of  Florida.  354 

The  policy  of  Marvin,  provisional  governor 357 

The  governor  calls  a  convention  359 

The  election  of  delegates  to  a  convention.  Ex-Confederates  control.  360 

Critical  questions:  The  war-debt  and  the  civil  status  of  the  negro.  361 

The  extent  and  character  of  the  convention's  work 364 

The  further  progress  of  civil  reorganization.    Opposition  to  Con- 
gress      365 

Conservative  opinions  on  the  temper  of  Florida  367 

Tranquility  in  Florida.    The  press  and  Confederate  veterans 368 

Disturbing  factors,  social  and  political  370 

Evidences  of  economic  recuperation.     Business  picks  up 372 

The  appearance  of  secret  organization  among  the  negroes 374 

The  conservative  Southern  white  and  negro  secret  societies   ....  375 


T^BLE  OF  CONTENTS  xix 

CHAPTER  XV 

The  Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Public  Opinion 

The  object  of  the  Bureau  and  its  establishment  in  Florida 377 

The  local  organization  of  the  Bureau  378 

The  restoration  of  abandoned  and  confiscated  property 380 

The  scope  of  the  Bureau  382 

Charitable  assistance.    Food  and  medical  attention  383 

The  establishment  of  free  schools  for  negroes  385 

State  and  Federal  negro  schools  387 

Northern  and  Southern  opinion  on  negro  education 389 

The  Freedman's  Savings-Bank  in  Florida  390 

The  supervision  of  written  labor  contracts  by  the  Bureau 393 

The  working  out  of  the  contract  system 395 

The  judgment  of  the  native  whites:  Conservative  opinion  398 

The  Southern  planter's  judgment  399 

The  professed  policy  of  the  Bureau  and  its  political  tendency 400 

Conflict  of  prejudices   402 

Evidences  of  graft  in  Bureau  administration  403 

The  clash  of  authority  between  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  and  local 

government    405 

The  fundamental  reasons  for  condemnation  of  the  Bureau  by  Con- 
servatives     407 

CHAPTER  XVI 

The  Problem  of  Conservative  Rule 

The  task  before  the  Conservative  state  government 408 

The  looming  up  of  negro  suffrage  as  an  issue 409 

The  origin  and  necessity  of  the  Black  Codes  411 

The  "  Free  Negro  "  in  Florida  under  the  old  regime 413 

The  proposal  of  different  laws  for  different  races 415 

The  enactment  of  the  Black  Code 417 

The  object  of  the  Black  Code  421 

The  effect  of  the  Black  Code 422 

The  spirit  of  Conservative  legislation  on  the  race  question,  1865-6.  424 

Evidences  of  social  disorder  426 

Congressional  condemnation  of  the  Florida  government 428 

The  supremacy  of  military  authority  430 

The  Federal  Civil  Rights  Act  and  its  effect  in  Florida 432 

Preliminary  organization  of  Radical  and  Conservjftive 433 

The  unanimous  repudiation  of  the  proposed  14th  Amendment 435 


XX  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PACE 

CHAPTER  XVII 
The  Beginning  of  Radical  Reconstruction 

XtHc  political  object  of  Radicals  in  reconstructing  Southern  gov- 
ernments    438 

The   Reconstruction  Committee  in   Washington.     Floridians  tes- 
tify before  it  440 

Radicals  in  Florida  condemn  Southern  whites 441 

\  Adverse  reports  from  army  officers  on  Southern  loyalty 443 

Impending  Reconstruction.     Would  the  Supreme  Court  intervene?  444 
*  Passage  of  the  Reconstruction  Laws ;  public  opinion  in  Florida  . .  445 

Ready  submission  to  Congress  advised  by  Southern  leaders  448 

Did  conditions  in  Florida  necessitate  such  drastic  laws?  450 

VThe  application  of  the  Reconstruction  laws;  military  rule  begin.  454 

The  Blacks  experiment  in  politics  455 

A  Negro  political  picnic.     Parading  and  speaking  456 

Conservative  whites  essay  to  lead  the  negroes.    Results  459 

CHAPTER  XVIII 
Registration  and  the  Organization  of  Local  Parties 

Military  rule.    Little  public  disturbance  or  injustice  463 

Preparation  for  registration.     Registers  and  their  duty  465 

The  process  of  registration  466 

Preparation  for  the  election.  Districting  Florida.  The  gerrymander.  468 
The  result  of  registration.  30  per  cent  of  the  whites  not  registered.  469 

The  evolution  of  Republican  factions,  1867  470 

The  first  Radical  state  convention — negroes,   carpet-baggers,   and 

scalawags   474 

Carpet-baggers  vs.  scalawags   475 

"  The  birds  of  passage "  476 

The  attitude  of  Conservative  white  toward  carpet-bagger  and  scal- 
awag      479 

(Prospective  strength  of  Radical  and  Conservative  parties  in  Florida.  482 

The  Union-Conservative  movement  483 

The  Conservative  Southerner's  advice  to  the  negro 484 

Apathy  among  the  whites  in  organizing  and  registering 487 

The  aggressive  Radical  campaign.     Religion  and  politics  489 


TABLE  OF  CCNTENTC  xxi 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XIX 

The  Constitutional  Convention  of  1868 

The  election  of  delegates.     Overwhelming  Radical  victory   491 

The  character  of  the  body  chosen  to  make  a  new  constitution 493 

Conservative  charges  of  fraud.    Attempted  obstruction 497 

Radical  and  Conservative  opinions  on  election  results 499 

Radical  white  leaders  organize  negro  delegates  before  the  conven- 
tion opens    499 

The  assembling — "  Education,  Equal  Rights  and  the  Ballot  Box  ". .  500 

Radical  legislation :  stay  laws  and  release  of  prisoners  ,.. .  501 

Discord  among  Radicals    502 

Threatened  expulsion  of  Radical  leaders — dead-lock   503 

The  Radical  faction  in  the  convention 504 

The  secession  of  moderate  Republicans  506 

The  work  of  the  Radical  "  Rump  Convention  "  in  Tallahassee 507 

The  midnight  return  of  seceders  to  Tallahassee.    Threatened  riot.  509 

The  moderate  constitution.    The  question  of  white  control 510 

The  relations  of  moderate  Republicans  and  Southern  Conservatives.  512 
The  intervention  of  the  Federal  military.    Moderates  triumph 513 

BOOK  IV 

REPUBLICAN  RULE 

CHAPTER  XX 
The  Inauguration  of  a  Republican  State  Government 

The  revival  of  the  Democratic  party  South   519 

The  Conservative  state  convention.   Opposition  to  the  Constitution.  522 

Radicals  divided.    Two  Republican  state  tickets  522 

The  question  of  further  proscribing  Conservatives  525 

The  election.     The  Constitution  ratified.     Republican  victory  526 

The  inauguration.     Grovernor  Harrison  Reed   528 

The  character  of  the  new  legislature  529 

The  Federal  military  still  retains  control  of  the  state  government.  530 

Florida  again  represented  in  the  Federal  congress,  1868  S31 

The  end  of  military  rule,  July  4th,  1868 532 

The  establishment  of  local  Republican  government  by  executive 

appointment    533 

The  difficulty  of  obtaining  good  men  for  local  office  535 


xxii  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAG2 

Florida  and  the  national  nominations   53^ 

The  Presidential  campaign  of  1868.    Aggressive  tactics  of  Demo- 
crats    537 

Arbitrary  tactics.     A  Republican  legfislature  chooses  Presidential 
electors    540 

CHAPTER  XXI 
Conflict  among  iRadicals — Two  Governors  of  Florida 

The  origin  of  discord :  Government  jobs  and  contracts 542 

Federal  and  state  patronage  543 

Governor  Reed  offends  both  Radical  and  Conservative  544 

Graft  proposals.  The  Governor  further  antagonizes  Radical  leaders.  546 

The  impeachment  of  Governor  Reed  S46 

The  Governor's  position    548 

The  treachery  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  late  of  Massachusetts...  551 
The  conspiracy.  Gleason's  government  in  "  McGuffin's  Hotel"  ..  551 
Threatened  violence.     The  picket  line.     Planned  assassination   . .  553 

Judicial  interposition.     The  Supreme  Court  supports  Reed  553 

Lieutenant-Governor  Gleason  driven  from  office  through  quo  war- 
ranto      555 

CHAPTER  XXn 

The  Outbreak  of  Lawlessness 

Toleration    of    violence    557 

Rumors  and  reports  concerning  the  Ku  Klux  Klan 558 

The  Young  Men's  Democratic  club — secret  political  organization..  561 
The  origin  of  the  Democratic  club.    Was  it  similar  to  the  Ku  Klux 

Klan?  562 

Increase  in  violence.     The  Republican  government  seeks  Federal 

aid    564 

Conservative  vs.  Radical.    The  beginning  of  the  "Reign  of  Terror" 

in  Jackson  County   565 

The  "  Regulators  " — night-riders.    Whippings  and  killings 566 

The  death  of  Finlayson.    The  threatened  sack  of  Marianna 568 

The   course  of  lawlessness.     Conservative  violence   and   Radical 

tyranny    569 

Tragedy  in  Jackson  County.    Death  of  Miss  McClellan  at  the  hands 

of  negroes   571 

Fear  of  general  conflict  between  races  in  Jackson  County  573 

Retaliation  and  revenge.    The  case  of  Fleishman.    The  authorities 

helpless    575 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  XXlii 

PAGE 

Republicans  urge  martial  law  and  troops  in  Jackson  County.  Reed's 

position   577 

Shootings,  murders,  and  whippings  throughout  the  state  579 

The  actual  extent  of  violence  in  Florida   581 

The  end  of  the  Jackson  County  trouble.    Dickinson's  death 583 

The  decline  of  lawlessness.     Federal  interference.     Weakening  of 

Radicals 584 

CHAPTER  XXIII 

An  Inquiry  into  the  Causes  of  Lawlessness 

The  basis  of  the  conflict  587 

The  prejudice  of  the  Southerner  on  the  race  question  588 

Neighborhood  quarrels  the  heritage  of  the  war  590 

Negroes  seek  farms.    Disputes  over  land  titles 592 

The  slaughtering  of  stock,  the  stealing  of  cotton,  and  methods  of 

punishment    594 

Labor  contracts  as  a  source  of  social  irritation.     Dishonesty  and 

ignorance    595 

The  expensiveness  of  radical  rule  597 

Dissatisfaction  among  property-owners  599 

Lawlessness  by  the  vicious  in  times  of  revolution 601 

Conservative  contempt  of  local  officials  602 

Terrorism,  secrecy,  and  the  breakdown  of  the  jury  system  603 

Did  the  negro  obtain  justice  in  the  courts ?  604 

Criminal  suggestion  and  bad  advice  from  the  Radical  leaders 606 

Rule  or  ruin — contemporary  opinions    607 

CHAPTER  XXIV 

Pakty  [Politics  to  the  Beginning  of  the  Republican  Decline  and 

After 

Dissension  among  Radicals.    The  secession  of  Saunders  610 

The  second  attempt  to  impeach  the  Governor.    The  lobbyists 612 

The  ratification  of  the  15th  Amendment  to  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion      615 

Charges  and  counter-charges  of  conspiracy  and  bribery  615 

Evidences  of  conflict  among  Radicals   617 

The  opening  of  the  campaign  of  1870.     Negroes  oppose  carpet- 
baggers     618 

"  The  Reform  Conservative  party  of  Florida,"  1870.     The  nomi- 
nations      619 


xxiv  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

"  The  Swing  Round  the  Circle "  with  shot-guns  and  reasonable 

arguments    620 

The  election  of  1870.    Lawlessness  621 

The  result  at  the  polls.    Republican  defeat.    The  Board  of  State 

Canvassers  623 

The  episode  of  restraining  the  Board  by  injunction  625 

Republicans  resort  to  the  Federal  Enforcement  Act  to  dissolve  the 

injunction  626 

Bloxham  applies  for  a  writ  of  mandamus.     Delay.     Sharp  prac- 
tice of  the  Radical  legislature  628 

The  beginning  of  Republican  decline,  1870  629 

Governor  Reed  in  conflict  with  local  bosses 630 

Desperate  efforts  to  remove  the  executive.     The  House  presents 

articles  of  impeachment  631 

The  Senate  adjourns  sine  die.   Was  Reed  suspended  from  office?  632 
The  discharge  of  iReed  "from  arrest"  and  the  end  of  impeachment.  635 

The  campaign  of  1872.    The  Liberal  Republican  movement  637 

The  boisterous  Republican  state  convention.    Hart  and  the  negroes 

prevail  638 

The  'Radical  victory  of  1872  639 

Election    tactics.     Federal   troops   and    Federal   deputy    marshals 

police  the  state    640 

The  development  of  Conservative  strength.    The  "  Tidal  Wave  of 

'74" 643 

The  Democrats  win  a  place  in  the  United  States  Senate.    Jones  . .  644 

CHAPTER  XXV 
The  Record  of  Republican  Rule 

The  basis  of  Republican  administration.    Centralized  rule 647 

The  expansion  of  government  648 

Proposed   reform   of   1868.     The   government   must   increase   its 

income  650 

Railroad  reorganization  by  state  aid.    Proposed  land  grants 652 

Initial  financial  difficulties.    The  increase  of  state  indebtedness...  653 
Soliciting  financial  support  in  the  North.    Disagreement  among  Re- 
publicans      655 

The  beginning  of  the  J.  P.  and  M.  scandal.    Sale  of  bankrupt  roads.  657 
The  purchase  of  railroads  from  the  state.    "  Embezzled  cash  "  and 

a  "  worthless  check "  658 

The  new  corporation.    Bribery.    State  aid 659 

The  issuing  of  $4,000,000  in  state  bonds  for  the  railroad.    The  dis- 
sipation of  the  proceeds  661 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  xxv 

PAGE 

The  outcome  of  the  railroad  deal.     Increased  indebtedness  663 

Legislative  corruption.    Bribery  663 

Selling  offices.     Campaign  contributions  666 

The  courts   under   Republican   rule.     The  judiciary  opposes  Re- 
trenchment.   Partisan  tactics 667 

The  trustees  of  the  public  domain.    Reckless  and  unfair  transfers 

of  trust  land  669 

The  rise  in  state  indebtedness  and  government  expenditure 672 

The  tax  rate  increases  enormously.  Measures  to  enforce  collections.  673 

The  Tax-Payers  Convention.    Shrinkage  of  personal  property 676 

Evidences  of  peculation  in  handling  the  public  income  678 

The  funded  debt.    The  bond  issues  679 

The  miserable  character  of  public  works.    Dilapidation  680 

Public  education.    Creditable  development  of  the  school  system  . .  682 
The  cause  of  Republican  maladministration  684 

CHAPTER  XXVI 

The  Election  of  1876 

The  campaign  opens.    The  Conservative  groundswell  687 

The  Republican  machine  crushes  Republican  reformers  689 

The  Conservative  convention.    The  formal  arraignment  of  Radi- 
cal rule  691 

Republican  declarations  of  principles  693 

Campaign  methods.    Rough  tactics  694 

Conservative  whites  threaten  blacks  with  economic  coercion 696 

Republican  policy:   organization   of   negroes   and  preparation   to 

commit  fraud   698 

Impending  disorder.    The  distribution  of  Federal  troops 699 

The  spirit  and  object  of  the  Conservative  campaign  703 

At  the  polls,  November  7th  705 

Evidences  of  discord  in  the  election 706 

Was  the  election  fair  and  peaceful  ?  709 

The  legal  plan  for  canvassing  the  state  vote 710 

The  announcement  of  the  precinct  vote  711 

CHAPTER  XXVII 
The  Result  of  the  Election  of  1876 

A  crisis.    Call  for  money,  lawyers,  and  Federal  troops 713 

The  electoral  situation  in  Florida 715 

Democrats  and  Republicans  prepare  to  contest  returns  715 

The  state  board  that  must  decide  the  count  716 


xxvi  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  case  of  Archer  Precinct  in  Alachua  County 717 

Republican  assault  on  the  Jackson  County  returns  721 

Republican  assault  on  the  returns  from  Hamilton,  Monroe,  and 

Manatee  Counties  722 

The  three  returns  from  Baker  County  723 

The  decision  of  the  Board  of  State  Canvassers  726 

Partisanship  and  political  rewards  to  partisans   729 

The  later  admission  of  one  member  of  the  Board  732 

Democrats  resort  to  the  courts  and  win  the  governorship  733 

The  inauguration  of  Drew.     Impending  violence  735 

The  new  canvassing  board  and  the  Democratic  electors 736 

The  close  of  the  Reconstruction  period  737 


BOOK   I 
THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS 

"  Florida  came  into  the  Union  fifteen  years  ago  upon  an  equality 
with  the  original  States,  and  their  rights  in  the  Confederacy  are 
equally  her  rights.  .  .  .  From  the  Union,  governed  by  the  Constitution 
as  our  fathers  made  it,  there  breathes  not  a  secessionist  upon  her 
soil;  but  a  deep  sense  of  injustice,  inequality  and  insecurity  produced 
by  the  causes  to  which  I  have  adverted,  is  brought  home  to  the  reason 
and  patriotism  of  her  people;  and  to  secure  and  maintain  these  rights 
which  the  Constitution  no  longer  accords  them,  they  have  placed  the 
State  of  Florida  out  of  the  Confederacy." — Stephen  R.  Mallory  before 
the  United  States  Senate,  Jan.  21,  1861,  Cong.  Globe,  36th  C,  2nd  S., 
p.  485. 


CHAPTER  I 
The  Evolution  of  a  Slave-Holding  Commonwealth 

Florida  was  the  last  Federal  territory  to  become  a  slave 
state.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  it  had  fewer  fac- 
tories, fewer  towns,  less  wealth,  and  less  population  than 
any  other  slave  state.  Every  other  commonwealth  created 
during  the  Middle  Period  quickly  surpassed  Florida  in 
population  and  wealth,  although  along  its  coasts  had 
been  established  the  first  permanent  European  colonies 
within  the  present  bounds  of  the  Union.  Mr.  Rhodes 
points  out,  with  great  truth,  that  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War  the  Southern  states  were  "  but  a  farm, 
dependent  on  Europe  and  the  North  for  everything 
but  bread  and  meat,  and  before  the  war  for  much  of 
these ".  This  characteristic  of  the  South  was  probably 
most  accentuated  in  Florida.  The  history  of  the  Civil  War 
and  Reconstruction  there  is  essentially  a  history  of  pro- 
found revolution  in  a  sparsely  settled  and  distinctly  rural 
region.  Therefore,  at  the  outset,  the  obvious  facts  con- 
cerning the  comparative  retardation  of  Florida  in  material 
development  are  worthy  of  some  notice.  They  indicate 
the  fundamental  characteristic  of  the  state  under  the  old 
regime. 

The  land  rests  serenely  amid  opalescent  Southern  seas. 
No  other  state  has  so  much  seacoast.  For  more  than  a 
thousand  miles  stretch  its  gleaming  seaward  confines — a 
well-marked  dividing  line  between  the  expanse  of  the  ocean 
and  the  mysteries  of  the  woods.  Long  ago  Spanish  voy- 
agers in  search  of  what  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  termed  "  a  mi- 

3 


4  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

raculous  fountain  of  youth  "  ^  reached  this  coast.  "  In  the 
same  year,  15 12  ",*  records  Samuel  Purchas, 

John  Ponce  of  Leon,  which  had  been  governor  of  the  He  of 
Saint  John,  armed  two  ships  and  went  to  seek  the  He  of  Ba- 
yuca,  where  the  naturals  of  the  country  reported  to  be  a  wel 
which  maketh  olde  men  young.  Whereupon  he  laboured  to 
find  it  out,  and  was  in  searching  of  it  the  space  of  sixe 
moneths,  but  could  finde  no  such  thing.  Hee  entered  into  the 
He  of  Bimini,  and  discovered  a  point  of  firm  land,  standing  29. 
degrees  toward  the  North  upon  Easter-day,  and  therefore  he 
named  it  Florida.* 

Mr.  Lowery  has  conceived  the  country  that  Ponce  and 
his  crew  saw.  "  Beyond  the  shallowing  green  waters," 
he  writes, 

the  waves  rolled  their  white  crests  of  foam  up  the  long,  hard, 
shell-paved  beaches,  which  formed  a  silver  bar  between  the 
sea  and  the  dense  verdure  of  the  islands  along  which  he  was 
coasting.  A  thick  forest  of  gray  cypress,  tulip,  ash,  and  mag- 
nolia, with  knarled  live  oaks  that  reminded  the  strangers  of 
their  native  land,  clad  the  low  sand  dunes  and  marshes  of  the 
islands  and  cut  the  horizon  with  its  dark  canopy,  above  which 
floated  the  plumes  of  towering  palm  groves  and  the  light  tufts 
of  the  broom-pine.  Between  the  islands  the  eye  rested  upon 
the  glistening  surface  of  lagoons  with  brilliant  borders  of  rush 
and  sedge  extending  up  to  the  very  edge  of  the  mysterious 
forest  on  the  mainland.  It  was  the  season  of  flowers.  The 
perfumed  breath  of  the  white  lily  was  wafted  out  to  them 
from  its  humid  haunts  in  the  shady  nooks  of  the  islands.  .  .  . 
Upon  the  dark  foliage  like  flights  of  gaudy  butterflies  lay 
spread  the  masses  of  blue,  crimson,  and  white,  the  blue  flowers 

^English  Voyages  in  Hakluyt  (Maclehose  Edit.),  v.  12,  p.  12. 

*  Mr.  Shea  and  Mr.  Lowery  conclude  that  the  year  should  be  1513, 
not  1512. 

•  Purchas,  His  Pilgrim,  v.  10,  p.  33. 


A  SLAVE-HOLDING  COMMONWEALTH  5 

and  coral  berries  of  the  licium  scdsmni,  the  andromeda,  and  the 
azalea ;  along  the  inner  shore,  between  the  water's  edge  and  the 
forest,  the  royal  palmetto,  crested  with  pyramids  of  silver 
white  blossom,  thrust  forth  its  sword-shaped  leaves.  Loons 
and  Spanish  curlew  whirled  overhead;  in  the  woods  strutted 
the  wild  turkey,  saluting  the  dawn  with  noisy  call  from  his 
perch  on  the  lofty  cypress  or  the  magnolia,  and  many  hued 
humming-birds  fluttered  from  flower  to  flower.^ 

The  virgin  splendor  of  this  most  Southern  state  has  not 
entirely  faded.  It  possesses  still  a  haunting  melancholy 
beauty,  all  its  own  and  not  easily  forgotten  by  those  who 
have  felt  its  spell.  "  I  recall  in  this  case,"  once  wrote 
Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson,  "  the  faintest  sensation  of 
our  voyage,  as  Ponce  de  Leon  may  have  recalled  those  of 
his  wandering  search  in  the  same  soft  zone  for  the  secret  of 
the  mysterious  fountain."  ^ 

Placid  expanse;  sinuous,  graceful  curves;  and  gentle  un- 
dulation characterize  the  lay  of  the  land — they  are  in  fact 
the  essential  qualities  in  Florida's  peculiar  beauty.  The 
highest  point  in  the  state  is  less  than  300  feet  above  the  sea. 
Its  streams  move  slumberously  to  the  ocean.  Its  low  sand 
coast  is  beaten  by  tropical  hurricane  and  ocean  wave  into 
contour  of  elusive  grace.  Its  innumerable  lakes  give  to  the 
interior  often  the  suggested  spaciousness  of  the  sea.  No 
other  state  of  the  Union  has  within  its  borders  so  much 
lake  surface  or  so  many  lakes  without  visible  outlet. 

Sidney  Lanier  once  wrote  from  Tampa  of 

"  Pale  inshore  greens  and  distant  blue  delights, 
White  visionary  sails,  long  reaches  fair 
By  moon-horn'd  strands  that  film  the   far-off  air." 

He  saw  the  glory  of  the  Southern  sea,  which  is,  in  part,  the 
glory  of  Florida. 

*  Lowery,  Spanish  Settlements,  v.  i,  p.  138. 

*  Army  Life  in  a  Black  Regiment,  p.  139. 


6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

As  you  journey  across  the  peninsula  the  charm  created 
by  the  coast  and  the  ocean  is  not  necessarily  dissolved. 
You  see  many  blue  lakes  as  clear  and  limpid  as  woodland 
springs,  which  most  of  them  are.  You  cross  winding 
streams  overhung  by  trees  festooned  in  gray  Spanish  moss 
that  vibrates  faintly  in  the  occasional  breeze.  You  skirt 
far-flung  green  savannahs  dense  with  red  and  yellow  alli- 
gator bonnets.  You  penetrate  deep,  cool  hammocks  where 
strange  brilliant  flowers  flash  in  the  day  and  where  the 
chuck-will-the-widow  calls  at  night  amid  the  jessamine,  the 
magnolia,  the  sweet  bay  tree,  the  pine,  the  oak,  and  the 
hickory.  You  pass  out  upon  desolate  pine  barrens  some- 
times as  silent  as  the  grave  and  sometimes  filled  with  the 
sighing  and  moaning  of  the  wind  from  the  distant  sea. 
You  look  over  broad,  rich  fields  that  are  green  or  snow 
white,  and  from  them  rise  countless  lark,  whose  whistle  is 
a  merry  contrast  to  the  sound  of  the  wind  in  the  pines. 
You  pass  often  between  tangles  of  wild  roses,  honeysuckle, 
and  scuppernong,  and  you  hear  a  remarkable  variety  of 
sweet  calls  from  a  remarkably  fine  lot  of  little  birds, — wood 
thrush,  swamp  sparrow,  joe  reet,  wren,  mocking  bird,  red 
bird,  blue  bird,  chick-a-dee,  chee-chee,  pop-eyed-molly,  and 
even  blue  jay.  You  find  yourself  now  and  then  in  the  midst 
of  woodpeckers.  About  you  among  the  pines,  if  the  day 
be  sunny,  scramble  and  chirrup  the  speckled  "  sap-sucker  ", 
the  "  yaller-hammer  ",  the  white  and  black  red  head,  and 
the  little  mottled  gray  "  worm-chaser  ".  All  are  drumming 
away  as  they  push  themselves  up  the  trees  with  their  tails. 
You  catch  occasionally  the  strident  whooping  of  the  swoop- 
ing, red-headed  "  Lawd  Gawd  " — the  biggest  woodpecker 
that  flies  in  America.  You  frighten  fragile  blue  heron, 
gray  crane,  brown  die-dappers,  and  tufted  kingfishers  from 
slumberous  creek  side  and  stagnant  pool.  In  the  sky  above 
no  longer  sail  the  gull  and  cormorant  of  the  sea.  Their 
place  is  taken  by  the  broad-winged  turkey  buzzard — that 


A  SLAVE-HOLDING  COMMONWEALTH  7 

denizen  of  the  upper  air  in  the  far  South.  He  sometimes 
drops  from  more  than  a  thousand  feet,  and  his  passage 
through  the  air  makes  a  sucking,  whistling  sound — his  only 
note,  some  say. 

You  pass  on  through  the  shadows  of  evening.  The 
"  varmints "  begin  to  creep  from  their  holes.  You 
will  probably  not  see  them,  but  they  are  a  host  yet  in 
Florida,  these  timid  creatures  of  the  shadows, — 'possum, 
coon,  catamount,  mink,  fox,  weasel.  In  the  deeper  wood 
small  Virginia  deer  timidly  emerge  from  the  titi  thickets 
when  evening  falls.  In  the  more  remote  and  desolate 
swamps  panther  still  cry  plaintively  beneath  the  moon. 
Along  the  banks  of  the  more  remote  streams  otter  still  slide 
in  the  night.  In  the  denser  huckleberry  patches  and  pal- 
metto jungles  small  black  bear  still  amble  about.  Along 
the  bayous  and  lakes  of  Florida  thousands  of  turtles  sun 
themselves  in  the  day  and  alligators  roar  at  night.  And,  as 
you  pass  beneath  the  moss-draped  trees,  you  will  occasion- 
ally catch  the  beat  of  unseen  wings  as  the  great  hoot  owl 
passes.  His  insane  though  melodious  calling  suggested 
once  to  some  negro  necromancer  the  following :  "  Red,  top, 
shoe-boot ;  chicken,  foot,  so  good !  ha !  ha'a !  "  Lanier's 
poetic  conception  of  some  aspects  of  the  land  is  a  fairly 
descriptive  one.    He  saw  there 

"  Robins  and  mocking  birds  that  all  day  long 
Athwart  straight  sunshine  weave  cross-threads  of  song, 
Shuttles  of  music — clouds  of  mosses  gray 
That  rain  me  rains  of  pleasant  thoughts  alway 
From  a  low  sky  of  leaves — faint  yearning  psalms 
Of  endless  metre  breathing  through  the  palms 
That  crowd  and  lean  and  gaze  from  off  the  shore 
Ever  for  one  that  cometh  nevermore — 
Palmettos  ranked,  with  childish  spearpoints  set 
Against  no  enemy — rich  cones  that  fret 
High  roofs  of  temples  shafted  tall  with  pines — 
Green,  grateful  mangroves  where  the  sand-beach  shines- 
Long  lissome  coast  that  in  and  outward  swerves, 
The  grace  of  God  made  manifest  in  curves." 


8  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

About  four  hundred  years  ago  European  explorers  first 
sailed  along  this  coast.  More  than  350  years  ago  settlers 
from  Spain  gained  a  permanent  foothold  on  the  mainland 
in  the  building  of  St.  Augustine.  Spanish  occupation,  with 
slight  interruption,  endured  almost  two  and  a  half  centuries 
without  developing  extended  or  very  prosperous  settlement. 
Civilized  population  was  restricted  to  the  neighborhood  of 
three  or  four  little  towns :  Pensacola  and  St.  Marks  on  the 
Gulf,  and  St.  Augustine  and  Fernandina  on  the  Atlantic. 
The  eastern  and  the  western  settlements  faced  different  seas 
and  were  without  connection  by  land.  Each  consisted  of  a 
fringe  of  farms,  trading  posts,  and  forts  lying  between  the 
sea  and  that  tremendous  wilderness  which  Ponce  de  Leon 
and  Hernando  de  Soto  had  penetrated  in  vain  search  of  a 
better  land.  "  The  Indians  are  exceedingly  ready  with 
their  weapons,"  wrote  a  gentlemen  of  Elvas  who  accom- 
panied De  Soto  into  Florida.  "  In  many  places  are  high 
and  dense  forests  and  extensive  bogs.  .  .  .  Toward  the 
west  was  a  place  called  Cale,  the  inhabitants  of  which  were 
at  war  with  those  of  territories  where  the  greater  part  of 
the  year  was  summer,  and  where  there  was  so  much  gold 
that  when  the  people  came  to  make  war  upon  those  of  Cale 
they  wore  golden  hats  like  casques."  ^  No  one  has  ever 
discovered  the  rich  neighbors  of  the  people  of  Cale.  The 
chronicler  of  "  much  gold  "  in  the  neighborhood  of  Florida 
was  either  the  victim  or  the  perpetrator  of  the  first  re- 
corded lie  on  that  subject. 

Florida  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  British  in  1763.^ 
For  twenty  years  England  held  it,  and  the  change  brought 
a  short-lived  prosperity.     Trade  thrived  as  never  before 

1  True  Relation  of  ...  A  Fidalgo  of  Elvas,  Buckingham.     Smith's 
translation. 

*  Fairbanks,  G.  R.,  History  of  Florida,  pp.  149,  162.    Treaty  of  Paris, 
Art.  20,  MacDonald,  Select  Documents,  v.  i. 


A  SLAVE-HOLDING  COMMONWEALTH  g 

with  Indian  and  half-breed  trappers.  Loyalists,  driven  out 
of  the  Southern  English  colonies  by  the  Whig  revolution- 
ists, poured  into  Florida/  Along  the  St.  Johns  and  St. 
Marys  rivers,  new  plantations  were  cleared;  more  negro 
slaves  were  brought  in  to  labor ;  fields  were  better  tilled ;  new 
roads  were  cut  through  swamp,  glade,  and  barren ;  and  the 
English  colonist,  here  as  elsewhere,  demonstrated  his  ability 
to  win  and  transform  and  hold,  after  a  certain  homely 
fashion,  a  wild  region. 

Spanish  control  was  resumed  in  1783."  Most  of  the 
British  settlers  left  the  colony.  Some  went  to  Great  Britain ; 
some,  to  the  Bahamas;  and  some,  probably,  to  the  United 
States.^  Plantations  were  deserted,  trade  decreased,  and 
in  a  few  years  Florida  had  lapsed  back  into  its  condition 
before  British  occupation.  Therefore  the  permanent  and 
lasting  results  of  Anglo-Saxon  control  in  colonial  Florida 
were  very  meagre. 

Spanish  government  in  Florida  from  earliest  times  was 
mild  and  paternal  and  restricted  to  the  narrow  limits  of 
civilized  settlement.  The  Indians  were  not  tractable  and 
made  poor  slaves.  Taxation  seems  to  have  been  light  and 
for  local  purposes  only.  When  in  1821  the  territory  was 
transferred  to  the  United  States,  the  civilized  population 
of  the  region  now  embracing  Florida  was  not  more  than 
8,000.  More  than  half  of  this  population  was  in  East 
Florida.  St.  Augustine  contained  maybe  2,000  souls — one- 
half  whites  and  the  other  half  negro  slaves  or  free  negroes. 
Fernandina  had  a  population  of  less  than  500.  The  plan- 
tation settlements  along  the  St.  Marys  and  St.  Johns  rivers 
contained  probably  2,000  more — including  slaves.    In  West 

1  Fuller  in  his  Purchase  of  Florida,  p.  18,  states  that  during  the  year 
1778  nearly  7,000  loyalists  emigrated  to  Florida. 

*  Fairbanks,  G.  'R.,  op.  cit.,  p.  162. 

*  Fuller,  op.  cit.,  p.  19. 


10  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Florida  (or  Gulf  Coast  Florida)  population  amounting  to 
two  or  three  thousand  was  confined  to  Pensacola  and  St. 
Marks  and  the  immediate  vicinities  of  these  two  hamlets. 

Economically  the  country  was  not  self-supporting.  Im- 
ports usually  far  exceeded  exports  in  value  and  variety. 
Most  of  the  citizens  were  Spanish  officials,  farmers,  and  fur 
traders.  Salaries  paid  by  the  Spanish  government  consti- 
tuted the  main  source  of  wealth.  The  white  population 
was  preponderantly  Spanish.  In  East  Florida  a  consider- 
able element  of  Minorcans  and  Italians  had  drifted  in,^  and 
a  few  English,  Irish,  and  Greeks.  In  the  West  population 
was  more  purely  Spanish. 

Life  was  simple  because  the  people  were  too  poor  to  make 
it  complex.  Customs  were  those  of  the  Spanish  Creole,  who 
never  lost  touch  with  the  home  country  and  managed  some- 
how to  transfuse  the  crudities  of  colonial  America  with 
some  of  the  native  grace  and  urbanity  of  Spain.  The 
"  patgo  ",  the  "  masquerade  ",  the  "  carnival  ",  the  "  chi- 
veree  ",  the  "  bazoo  ",  the  "  fandango  ",  cock-fighting, 
card-playing,  and  going  to  mass  were  the  more  usual  social 
distractions.  This  primitive  Latin,  Catholic,  Creole,  slave- 
holding  society,  more  than  two  centuries  old  in  182 1 — and 
therefore  ancient  for  civilized  America — was  soon  swal- 
lowed up  by  the  influx  of  newcomers  from  the  North, — 
the  unwelcome  and  grasping  Americans.^ 

'  Fairbanks,  op.  cit..  chap.  25,  for  account  of  Dr.  Turnbull's  colony 
(1763-70)  of  Greeks  and  Minorcans.  The  descendants  of  these  people 
live  in  East  Florida  to-day.  Also  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Florida,  v.  i, 
pp.  86-87;  Dewhurst,  St.  Augustine. 

'  The  foregoing  references  to  colonial  Florida  are  based  upon  the 
following  works :  Garcillasso  de  la  Vega,  Histoire  de  la  Floride,  Rich- 
elet,  French  translation,  1735 ;  Lowery,  Spanish  Settlements,  2  vols.; 
the  accounts  of  De  Soto's  expedition  by  De  Beidma,  Ranjel,  and  Elvas; 
Irving,  Conquest  of  Florida;  Averette,  Unwritten  History  of  Old  St. 
Augustine,    Copied   from    the   Spanish   Archives   in    Seville,   covering 


A  SLAVE-HOLDING  COMMONWEALTH  n 

As  settlers  moved  into  southwestern  Georgia  and  Ala- 
bama Territory,  Florida  became  more  and  more  the  place 
of  retreat  for  runaway  negro  slaves,  hostile  Indians,  and 
lawless  white  men.  Its  forests  were  dense  and  its  swamps, 
almost  trackless;  and  for  those  fleeing  from  Americans  it 
afforded  protection  as  foreign  territory.  The  failure  of 
Spain  adequately  to  govern  this  region  which  became  an 
asylum  for  the  lawless  was  the  occasion  for  the  American 
invasion  under  Andrew  Jackson.^  Florida  was  in  truth 
not  an  important  part  of  Spain's  colonial  empire.  Acqui- 
sition by  the  United  States  was  the  resultant  of  Spanish  ad- 
ministrative feebleness,  the  geographical  situation  of  the 
peninsula,  and  the  expansion  to  natural  boundaries  of  the 
robust  and  aggressive  Northern  power. 

The  purchase  of  Florida  from  Spain  was  consummated 
during  the  first  great  sectional  controversy  over  slavery  in 
the  territories.^  The  location  of  the  new  territory  made  it 
logically  future  slave  soil.    Historically  it  was  slave  soil  at 

period  from  1565  to  1786,  Libr.  Fla.  Hist.  Soc. ;  Bartram,  Travels  in 
Florida,  London,  1792;  Dewhurst,  St.  Augustine,  1881,  a  brief  secondary- 
work  ;  Fairbanks,  Hist,  of  St.  Augustine,  1881,  a  valuable  monograph  by 
an  authority;  Fairbanks,  Hist,  of  Florida;  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Florida, 
V.  i ;  Brinton,  Notes  on  the  Florida  Peninsula,  a  valuable  work,  1859 ; 
Campbell,  Hist.  Sketches  of  Colonial  Fla.,  1892;  Darby,  Memoir  on 
Geog.,  etc.  .  .  .  of  Fla.,  1821 ;  Libr.  Fla.  Hist.  Soc. ;  Forbes,  Sketches 
of  the  Floridas,  1821,  Libr.  Fla.  Hist.  Soc. ;  Brevard  and  Bennett, 
Hist,  and  Govt,  of  Fla.,  a  valuable  little  book;  Williams,  Hist,  of  Fla., 
1821. 

*  Fuller,  op.  cit.,  chaps.  6-8.  "  Corresp.  between  Gen.  A.  Jackson  and 
Jno.  C.  Calhoun"  on  Seminole  War;  a  pamphlet  (Washington,  1831) 
in  Libr.  Fla.  Hist.  Soc,  Jacksonville.  Sen.  Docs.,  iSth  C,  2  S.,  No. 
100,  No.  102,  for  the  official  history  of  Jackson's  invasion.  H.  Docs., 
15th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  119,  for  Jackson's  destruction  of  Negro  Fort. 
Also  Ex.  Docs.,  15th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  82. 

'  Fuller,  op.  cit.,  passim,  is  the  best  study  of  the  Florida  Treaty. 

For  important  sources,  see  Ex.  Papers,  i6th  C,  ist  S.,  No.  96  (1819)  ; 
Ex.  Docs.,  i6th  C,  1st  S.,  No.  120  (Mess,  and  papers  of  Pres.  Monroe. 


12  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

that  time.  Into  Florida  came  ultimately  a  part  of  that  vast 
host  of  planters  and  speculators  which,  till  late  in  the 
Middle  Period,  was  steadily  moving  southwestward.  The 
splendid  "  Kingdom  of  Cotton  "  was  then  in  the  making. 
However,  the  first  Americans  to  settle  in  Florida  were  not 
cotton  planters,  but  poor  squatters — "  kasions  ",  "  crack- 
ers ",  etc. — an  ignorant,  shiftless,  hardy  lot  of  people  who 
began  to  drift  over  the  borders  of  Florida  before  the  region 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  United  States.  These  poor 
whites  were  little  interested  in  slavery  or  cotton  or  even 
government. 

In  1822  the  military  rule  of  General  Jackson  was  super- 
seded by  the  civil  rule  of  the  territorial  council  and  gov- 
ernor. Florida  was  divided  into  counties,  laws  were 
adopted  to  regulate  civil  and  criminal  practice,  and  inferior 
courts  were  established.  A  Federal  commission  was  ap- 
pointed to  examine  all  land  claims  originating  prior  to 
American  occupation.  It  took  several  years  to  adjust  this 
matter,  and  in  the  meantime  no  public  land  was  sold.^ 

The  territorial  council  met  for  the  first  time  in  Pensa- 
cola — on  the  western  edge  of  the  territory.  Its  second 
meeting  was  in  St.  Augustine — on  the  eastern  edge  of  the 
territory.^  Distances  were  great  and  wilderness  trails  bad. 
Therefore  the  council  sought  a  site  for  a  capital  midway 
between  the  two  inhabited  sections.^ 

1819)  ;  Ex.  Papers,  i8th  C,  ist  S.,  No.  55  (Mess,  of  Monroe).  See, 
also,  J.  L.  M.  Curry's  "Acquisition  of  Florida,"  Am.  Hist.  Mag.,  v. 
xix,  p.  286. 

*  The  adjustment  of  claims  proved  perplexing.  The  more  important 
documents  bearing  on  the  subject  are:  Ex.  Papers,  18th  C,  ist  S.,  No. 
156  (1824 — Report  of  Land  Commissioners)  ;  No.  158;  Ex.  Papers, 
i8th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  in;  19th  C,  ist  S.,  No.  115;  Ex.  Docs.,  i8th  C, 
2nd  S.,  No.  47. 

*  Rerick,  op.  cit.,  v.  1. 

'  "  History  of  the  Location  of  Tallahassee,"  from  House  Journal, 
pamphlet,  Libr.  Fla.  Hist.  Soc,  Jacksonville. 


A  SLAVE-HOLDING  COMMONWEALTH  13 

In  North  Central  Florida  clear  lakes  and  broad  savan- 
nahs divide  many  ranges  of  low  loam  hills.  These  uplands, 
rich  in  humus,  were  then  lying  fallow,  covered  with  hick- 
ory and  oak  and  pine  and  myriads  of  flowers.  People  in 
search  of  new  homes  and  good  lands  had  already  "  pros- 
pected ",  by  1823,  this  fair,  virgin  region.  Here  in  an  old 
Indian  field  the  Territorial  Council  chose  a  site  for  a  capital 
which  became  known  as  Tallahassee.^  The  governor  and 
council  met  there  in  1824. 

The  building  in  which  they  met  was  humble  and  roughly 
constructed.  The  wilderness  stretched  away  on  all  sides. 
"  The  assembling  and  adjournment  of  the  council  are  the 
events  of  the  year  in  this  territory  from  which  citizens 
date,"  wrote  Mrs.  Long.     "  The  interval  does  not  count."  ^ 

The  second  wave  of  immigration  into  Florida  from  the 
United  States  was  more  speculative  and  transitory  than 
permanent.  Prospectors  were  seeking  good  lands  at  a  low 
price,  many  expecting  to  sell  out  when  the  increase  of  popu- 
lation should  inevitably  send  up  the  values  of  cotton  land. 
They  were  a  vigorous,  hard-headed,  adventurous  lot  of 
men.  "  The  country  was  filled  with  strangers,"  one  man 
writes  who  experienced  this  beginning, 

who  spread  themselves  over  the  country  with  compass  in  hand, 

*  "  Hist,  of  Location  of  Tallahassee,"  H.  Journal.  Rerick,  op.  cit., 
V.  i,  p.  152.  Gulf  States  Hist.  Mag.,  v.  i,  p.  199,  "  Selection  of  Talla- 
hassee." 

'  Florida  Breezes,  Mrs.  Ellen  Call  Long.  Mrs.  Long  was  the  grand- 
daughter of  Rich.  Keith  Call  who  became  Governor  of  Florida  in 
1835.  Her  book  is  rambling  and  occasionally  confused  but  replete 
with  interesting  observations  and  discussions  of  society  in  ante-bellum 
Florida.  Beyond  her  own  experiences  her  sources  were  evidently  the 
recollections  and  miscellaneous  memoirs  of  her  grandfather  and  her 
many  friends.  The  work  is  out  of  print  and  now  very  difficult  to 
find.  The  author  consulted  the  copy  in  the  British  Museum,  London, 
published  after  the  Civil  War. 


14 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


according  to  the  marked  lines,  examining  the  lands,  taking 
notes,  keeping  profound  silence,  and  avoiding  one  another. 
Perhaps  some  of  them  have  bought  from  a  surveyor  the  sup- 
posed secret  of  an  excellent  and  unknown  section.  Little 
portable  plans,  mysteriously  figured,  circulate  privately.  Noth- 
ing is  talked  of  but  lands,  their  qualities,  probable  prices,  etc. 
Intrigue  and  knavery  the  most  unblushing  display  themselves 
in  all  their  lustre.^ 

The  new^comers  came  from  all  parts  of  the  Union.  Most 
of  them  can,  with  safety,  be  denominated  slave-holders. 
Radical  free-soilism  did  not  touch  Florida.  The  territory 
was  spared  that  conflict  of  ethical  ideas  and  material  inter- 
ests which  was  then  surely  dividing  the  nation  and  which 
produced  bloody  Kansas  and  the  great  war  a  generation 
later. 

The  Federal  land  office  was  opened  at  Tallahassee  in 
1825.  This  land  sale  was  an  event  of  significance  for  this 
unformed  commonwealth  whose  wealth  was  based  pros- 
pectively upon  extensive  agriculture.  "  Land  speculators 
anticipating  the  influx  of  immigration  *  had  flocked  '  to  the 
territory  and  bought  land  of  the  Indian  for  a  trifle,  sup- 
posing the  title  good ;  and  those  who  came  to  make  perma- 
nent homes  were  disappointed  to  find  locations  occupied 
and  held  by  large  grants."  ^  The  Federal  authorities  prob- 
ably put  an  end  to  such  hastily  acquired  titles. 

When  the  day  arrived  for  the  first  sale  of  public  lands,  a 

*  Murat,  America  and  the  Americans,  p.  59.  Chas.  Louis  Napoleon 
Achille  Murat,  son  of  Napoleon's  sister  Caroline  and  Marshal  Murat 
who  became  King  of  Naples,  came  to  Florida  early  in  the  20's,  made 
the  territory  his  home,  married  a  Floridian  (Miss  Willis),  and  lived 
many  years  near  Tallahassee.  His  book  on  America  devotes  some 
space  to  society  in  an  American  "  territory ".  Obviously,  he  wrote 
about  Florida,  which  was  the  part  of  the  Union  best  known  to  him. 
See  Rerick,  op.  cit.,  v.  i,  p.  153. 

*  Long,  op.  cit.,  p.  45. 


A  SLAVE-HOLDING  COMMONWEALTH  15 

heterogeneous  crowd  of  speculating  land  sharks,  planters, 
small  farmers,  squatters,  "  kasions  ",  country  lawyers  and 
confidence  men  had  come  together  in  Tallahassee.  Prince 
Achille  Murat,  recalling  this  incident  probably — for  he 
was  in  Florida  at  the  time — wrote  from  Italy  as  follows: 

The  hour  approaches.  The  poor  squatter  runs  about  town. 
He  has  been  laboring  all  the  year  that  he  may  buy  the  land  on 
which  his  house  is  situated.  Perhaps  for  want  of  a  dollar  or 
two  it  will  be  taken  from  him  by  the  greedy  speculators. 
Anxiety  and  trouble  are  depicted  on  his  honest  and  wild  coun- 
tenance. A  jobber  accosts  him,  pities  him,  and  offers  to  with- 
draw his  pretentions  for  the  sum  of  $3.00.  The  poor  simpleton 
gives  it  to  him  not  doubting  that  the  jobber  cannot  now  bid 
against  him.  This  is  what  is  called  "  hush  money  ".  The 
cryer  puts  up  the  land  by  eights,  beginning  by  a  section  and 
township  in  regular  order.  The  prices  are  different  but  the 
sale  always  opens  at  $1.25  per  acre.  .  .  .  An  old  Indian  vil- 
lage, a  situation  for  a  mill,  the  plantation  of  a  squatter,  a  place 
to  which  a  road  or  river  leads,  or  which  seems  likely  to  become 
the  seat  of  a  city  or  entrepot, — are  so  many  circumstances 
which  augment  the  value  of  land  tenfold  or  more.^ 

The  sale  of  the  choicer  public  land  meant  the  advent  of 
more  settled  economic  and  social  conditions.  Immigrants 
continued  to  come  into  the  territory.  Most  of  them  pushed 
on  past  the  old  towns  of  entry — Pensacola,  St.  Augustine, 
Fernandina — and  sought  the  richer  uplands  of  the  interior. 
The  census  of  1834  showed  a  total  population  of  34,739, 
of  whom  full  20,000  lived  in  those  new  counties  between 
the  Chipola  and  Suwanee  rivers — North  Central  Florida. 
The  settlers  came  from  practically  every  section  of  the 
Union.  The  majority  hailed  from  Virginia,  Tennessee,  the 
Carolinas,  and  Georgia.  The  town  of  Jacksonville  on  the 
St.  Johns  river  was  laid  out  in  1822.    It  was  destined  within 

*  Murat,  op.  cit.,  p.  60. 


1 6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

a  few  years  to  become  the  chief  town  of  East  Florida.  Pen- 
sacola,  the  old  town  in  the  extreme  west,  was  gaining  popu- 
lation and  trade.  More  than  2,000  bales  of  cotton  and  a 
quarter  of  a  million  feet  of  sawed  lumber  were  exported 
from  there  in  1824.  Between  the  Chipola  and  Suwanee, 
settlements  expanded  into  towns  which  some  of  the  opti- 
mistic inhabitants  would  have  told  you  were  the  finest  in  the 
Union.  Quincy,  Monticello,  Marianna,  and  Tallahassee 
were  hamlets  in  size,  but  each  was  the  metropolis  for  its 
section.  They  were  situated  along  the  St.  Augustine  road, 
a  rough  wilderness  way  cleared  through  the  forest  from 
Pensacola  on  the  Gulf  to  St.  Augustine  on  the  Atlantic. 

The  first  general  election  was  held  in  1825  to  choose  a 
delegate  to  the  Federal  Congress.  It  was  hotly  contested 
and  definitely  marks  the  beginning  of  election  politics  in 
Florida.  The  methods  employed  then  were  essentially  the 
same  as  those  of  later  generations.  "  For  some  months 
previous  the  candidates  and  their  friends  have  been  in  mo- 
tion, making  calls  from  habitation  to  habitation,  trying  to 
persuade,  excuse,  explain,"  writes  Achille  Murat. 

In  general  the  friends  take  more  trouble  than  the  candidates 
themselves.  The  Governor  by  proclamation  fixes  the  day  and 
divides  the  country  into  precincts,  in  each  of  which  he  chooses 
a  central  house  and  appoints  three  election  judges.  These 
dignitaries  meet  in  the  morning  and  swear,  kissing  the  Bible, 
to  conduct  themselves  with  integrity.  They  seat  themselves 
around  a  table  at  a  window.  An  old  cigar  box  patched  up  with 
a  hole  in  the  lid,  a  sheet  of  paper  and  a  writing  desk  form  the 
materials  of  the  establishment.  Everyone  presents  himself 
outside  the  window,  gives  his  name,  which  is  registered  upon  a 
paper,  deposits  his  ballot  in  a  box  presented  to  him  and  with- 
draws ;  if  the  judges  doubt  his  qualifications  as  to  residence  or 
age  they  administer  the  oath  to  him.  Within  the  room  every- 
thing passes  in  an  orderly  manner,  but  it  is  not  the  same  out- 
side.    The  roads  are  soon  filled  with  horses  and  carts.     The 


A  SLAVE-HOLDING  COMMONWEALTH 


17 


electors  arrive  in  troops,  laughing  and  singing,  often  half- 
tipsy  since  the  morning  and  exciting  one  another  to  support 
their  favorite  candidate.  They  or  their  friends  present  them- 
selves to  the  electors  as  they  arrive  with  ballots  ready  pre- 
pared, often  printed,  and  expose  themselves  to  their  jokes  and 
coarseness.  Every  newcomer  is  questioned  about  his  vote  and 
is  received  with  applause  or  hisses.  An  influential  man  pre- 
sents himself  to  vote,  declares  his  opinions  and  reasons  in  a 
short  speech;  the  tumult  ceases  for  a  moment  and  he  draws 
away  many  people  after  him.  Nobody  offers  to  molest  him. 
Meanwhile  whiskey  circulates.  Toward  evening  everybody 
is  more  or  less  tipsy,  and  it  is  not  often  that  the  sovereign  peo- 
ple abdicate  their  power  without  general  battle  in  which 
nobody  knows  what  he  is  about,  and  in  which  all  those  who 
have  managed  to  retain  their  carriage  take  good  care  not  to 
embroil  themselves.  Everybody  goes  home  to  sleep.  The 
judges  scrutinize  the  suffrage  and  send  the  result  to  the  capital. 
The  next  day  beaten  and  beat  are  as  good  friends  as  if  nothing 
had  happened.^ 

This  is  a  rather  lurid  account  of  a  territorial  election,  but  it 
probably  reflects  well  enough  the  rough-and-tumble  spirit 
and  the  inebriety  of  the  frontier.  Conduct  was  more  dis- 
graceful a  generation  after  Florida  had  ceased  to  be  fron- 
tier country. 

Politics  kept  pace  with  material  development  in  Florida. 
The  middle  counties,  containing  most  of  the  prosperous 
planter  class,  had  become  by  1830  the  dominant  section  of 
the  territory.  The  counties  of  Jackson,  Gadsden,  Leon, 
Jefiferson,  and  Madison — all  organized  between  1822  and 
1827 — contained  about  two-thirds  of  the  population  in 
1830.  Spreading  over  the  gently  rolling  uplands,  planta- 
tions flanked  lake  and  savannah  with  a  misty  expanse  of 
white  when  the  cotton  opened.     Fields  of  cotton  and  corn 

*  Murat,  op.  cit.,  p.  68;  also  account  in  Long,  op.  cit.,  passim. 


1 8  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

replaced  immense  areas  of  forest.  Splendid  homes  were 
being  built  by  the  more  prosperous — built  sometimes  of 
brick  and  stone  where  ten  years  before  an  unbroken  wil- 
derness had  stood.  Such  development  indicates  tre- 
mendous optimism  and  the  extravagance  which  goes  with 
it.  But  such  evidences  of  prosperity  were  not  entirely  vul- 
gar. The  severe  and  simple  lintels;  the  tall  white  col- 
umns; the  spacious  and  simple  interiors;  the  general  ab- 
sence of  cheap  attempts  at  ornate  architecture ;  the  substan- 
tial beauty  and  quaint  harmony  of  tables,  chairs,  beds,  and 
cupboards, — reflect  an  aspiration  at  least  after  the  best 
of  the  past.  The  Latin  and  Greek  works  upon  the  book- 
shelves of  many  homes  indicate  the  same  thing.  The 
few  hundred  aristocracy  of  Central  Florida  were  a  moder- 
ately cultured  and  eminently  forceful  lot  of  people. 

By  the  advent  of  the  thirties  weekly  newspapers  were 
published  in  the  various  towns  of  this  section,  setting  forth 
the  opinions  and  doings  of  the  planter  class.  Local,  na- 
tional, and  foreign  questions  were  discussed  with  a  gravity 
and  dryness  which  suggest  the  conservative  English  jour- 
nals. "  Reviews  and  magazines,  literary  journals  and 
novelties  of  every  sort  came  to  us  from  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, and  England  at  a  moderate  price  and  a  month  or 
two  after  their  publication  over  the  Atlantic,"  writes  a  citi- 
zen. "  I  had  read,  I  have  no  doubt,  the  last  romance  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott  before  it  had  reached  Vienna."  Some  of  the 
works  ofifered  for  sale  in  a  Tallahassee  book-store  in  1831 
were  as  follows:  Blake's  Botany,  Good's  Study  of  Medi- 
cine, Murphy's  Tacitus,  Benson's  Sermons,  Homer's  Iliad, 
Robertson's  America,  Scotland,  Charles  V,  Jefferson's 
Notes  on  Virginia,  Herodotus'  History,  Rollin's  Ancient 
History,  Moore's  Poems,  Scott's  Prose  Works,  Fielding's 
Tom  Jones,  Byron's  Works,  Irving's  Columbus,  Memoirs 
of  Napoleon,  The  Arabian  Nights,  and  a  host  of  other 


A  SLAVE-HOLDING  COMMONWEALTH 


19 


books  of  as  varied  a  quality/  All  this  is  indicative  of  a 
certain  urbanity  and  culture,  though  not  of  a  demand  for 
the  latest  and  liveliest  books. 

Life  was  not  over  refined  with  the  upper  class.  There 
was  considerable  gambling,  drinking,  horse-racing,  and  bet- 
ting. Each  town  soon  had  its  own  jockey  club.  Fatal 
duels  were  often  fought  in  formal  fashion.  Fast  horses  and 
bright  colors  were  in  evidence.^  Yet  the  whites — rich  and 
poor — were  a  religious  people.  Religion  afforded  both  con- 
solation and  amusement.  Most  of  the  planters  were  Metho- 
dists or  Episcopalians.  The  year  of  the  founding  of  Talla- 
hassee witnessed  the  organization  of  the  Methodist  Church 
of  the  District  of  Tallahassee  with  a  minister  in  charge.* 
The  following  year  Tallahassee  became  an  Episcopal  mis- 
sion station.*  Methodists,  Episcopalians,  Presbyterians, 
and  Baptists  all  established  churches  in  Florida  before  the 
end  of  its  first  decade  as  American  territory.  The  Roman 
Catholic  church  had  been  established  in  Florida  for  more 
than  two  centuries.  "  There  is  no  church  building  here  " 
(in  Tallahassee),  writes  Mrs.  Long  of  the  early  days, 

but  there  is  a  Tyng,  which  is  a  good  name  and  true^ — synony- 
mous with  sound  teaching,  present  usefulness  and  ancestral 
claims.  The  place  of  worship  is  the  arena  of  many  purposes ; 
sometimes  a  court  room  in  trial  and  pleadings ;  again  for  politi- 
cal discussions;  at  night,  a  dance  hall;  and  sometimes  there 
players  lived  their  mimic  life.     The  congregation  was  well 

^  Floridian  and  Advocate,  Jan.  20,  1831. 

*  See  Jockey  Club  notices  in  Florida  papers  in  Congressional  Library, 
Washington.  For  examples,  Floridian,  Jan.  5  and  Feb.  2,  1839.  Also, 
Long,  Florida  Breezes,  p.  99. 

8  Smith,  History  of  Wesleyan  Methodism,  p.  228. 

*  Within  fifteen  years  Episcopal  parishes  were  established  in  Key 
West,  St.  Augustine,  Pensacola,  Tallahassee,  Jacksonville,  St.  Joseph, 
Marianna  and  Quincy.     Daniels,  Episcopal  Church  in  Florida,  passim. 


20  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

dressed ;  gentlemen  in  fine  blue  cloth,  brass  buttons,  high  black 
stocks  and  stiff  sharp-cornered  collars  and  ruffled  bosoms, 
though  a  little  out  of  date  gave  none  the  less  an  air  of  marked 
elegance  in  their  appearance.^ 

Cotton  fields  were  spreading  out  and  planters  were  be- 
coming prosperous  because  cotton  was  paying.  The  abun- 
dant yield  of  the  earth  gave  stability  to  society.  Early 
dwelling  places  became  old  homes.  Those  who  had  come 
to  the  new  land  remained.  The  ivy  crept  over  walls.  Men 
and  women  had  about  them  children  who  had  known  no 
home  but  Florida.^  "  There  are  a  thousand  nameless  ties, 
kindred  thoughts  and  deep  sympathies  that  make  a  chain  of 
friendships  for  these  country  people,"  writes  Mrs.  Long. 

On  through  the  town  we  passed,  welcomed  by  a  chorus  of 
barking  dogs  accompanied  or  varied  by  the  whooping  or  whist- 
ling of  boys.  Lights  from  the  unshuttered  or  thinly-draped 
windows  speak  of  home  life,  but  the  streets  had  no  illumina- 
tion save  a  shower  of  moonlight  that  poured  a  wealth  of  beauty 
upon  the  scene,  its  effulgence  streaming  in  through  the  dark 
green  of  centenary  oaks  which  lined  the  streets.^ 

The  nativizing  of  population  did  not  produce  complete 
homogeneity.  People  came  into  Florida  with  sectional  idio- 
syncrasies developed,  and  these  characteristics  were  handed 
down  to  the  second  and  third  generation.  There  were  com- 
munities of  Virginians,  and  communities  of  South  Caro- 
linians, and  communities  of  Georgians,  etc.  West  Florida's 
population  differed  from  East  Florida's;  and  Central  Flor- 
ida's, from  both. 

The  planter  was  generally  enlightened  and  prosperous. 
Within  his  class  should  be  included  the  merchants  and  pro- 

*  Long,  op.  cit.,  p.  72. 

•  See  Murat,  op.  cit.,  pp.  66,  74  et  seq. 
»  Long,  op.  cit.,  pp.  55  and  72. 


A  SLAVE-HOLDING  COMMONWEALTH  2 1 

fessional  men.  Prosperity  was  not  enjoyed  by  all  classes 
of  whites.  The  little  farmers  and  squatters  in  the  sparsely 
settled  counties  led  lives  which  in  material  appointments 
were  only  slightly  above  the  savage.  Corn  pone,  clabber, 
youpon  tea,  dried  beef,  venison,  and  occasionally  wild 
honey  constituted  their  fare  until  civilization  brought 
nearer  their  habitations  salt  pork,  razor-backs,  and  coffee. 
Their  houses  were  rude  log  huts  with  dirt  floors,  unglazed 
windows,  and  mud  chimneys.^  They  were  neighbors  to 
the  Seminole  and  Creek  Indians,  and  when  the  final  struggle 
came  with  the  Seminoles  the  poor  whites  suffered  most. 

Mild-mannered,  kindly,  and  indolent,  they  were  as  hos- 
pitable as  they  were  poor.  A  few  of  the  more  prosperous 
owned  a  negro  slave  of  two.  Occasionally  a  cracker  accu- 
mulated property  and  became  a  planter.  Mrs.  Long  de- 
scribes meeting  a  family  of  poor  whites  in  Florida. 

The  residence  of  Mr.  Smith  consists  of  two  log  rooms  on  sills 
connected  by  an  open  passage  upon  the  floor  of  which  reposed 
a  white  man  who  used  a  reversed  hide-bottom  chair  as  a 
pillow.  Peeping  from  the  door  was  a  slouchy  white  woman 
who  wore  a  dirty  sun-bonnet,  who  upon  our  halting  before  the 
gate  called  "  Alik  Smith  !  Alik  Smith !  I  keep  on  telling  you 
to  git  up  !  Git  up,  Alik  Smith ;  thar's  folks  a'  callin'  on  you  at 
the  gate  i  "  Finally  the  intelligence  of  Mr.  Smith  was  aroused, 
and  yawning  and  stretching  he  came  out  to  greet  us :  "  An'  I 
declar,  its  you,  Mister  Maclean,  to  be  sure.  I  hearn  as  how  you 
had  gone  down  below.  Light,  gentlemen,  hitch  yer  critters — 
that  damn  lazy  scoundrel  is  nary  time  about  when  he's  wanted 
— but  thar's  the  rascal  now.  Horcules,  see  how  you  give  feed 
to  them  horses!  Wal,  strangers,  you  must  know  as  how  nig- 
gers is  moughty  high  an'  gittin'  higher.  It  took  my  level  best 
with  five  crops  on  this  poor  piney  land  to  git  done  payin  for 

^  See  reference  to  these  people  in  Smith,  op.  cit.,  pp.  265,  306;  Murat, 
op.  cit.,  passim;  De  Bow's  Review,  etc. 


22  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Horcules.'  As  we  got  under  the  roof  of  the  building,  for  it 
can  scarcely  be  called  entering  a  house,  he  called  aloud  to  the 
woman  no  longer  seen, — "  Ole  Sweet,  push  up  the  pot  for  the 
gentlemen  will  be  agying  hungry  " ;  and  with  the  diffuse  man- 
ners of  a  grand  chamberlain  he  offered  us  seats  which  he 
called  "  cheers  ",  adding,  "  make  yourselves  at  home,  gentle- 
men ".  Then  he  placed  part  of  his  body  on  a  chair  while  his 
legs  were  extended  up  and  down,  resting  on  the  rough  paling 
that  partially  empaled  the  passage.  A  quid  of  tobacco  com- 
pleted his  ease,  and  he  was  ready  for  the  enjoyment  of  society. 
"  Wal,  gentlemen,  what's  the  news  ?  "  ^ 

As  the  territory  grew  the  usual  phenomena  of  economic 
arid  political  organization  were  manifest.  The  principal 
issue  in  territorial  Florida  for  political  controversy  was 
but  the  local  phase  of  a  great  national  question,  namely, 
to  what  extent  should  government  aid  and  control  banks. 
In  Florida  the  controversy  began  at  an  early  date.  The 
governor  vetoed  bills  of  the  territorial  council  in  1824  for 
the  incorporation  of  certain  banks  because  he  believed  that 
such  banks  would  prove  to  be  "  unsuited  to  the  genius  and 
spirit  of  our  free  institutions  ".^  With  the  advent  of  An- 
drew Jackson  as  President  the  entire  nation  became  more 
or  less  disturbed  over  the  national  aspect  of  this  question. 

The  heavy  cotton  planters  of  interior  Florida  were  the 
exponents  and  local  apostles  of  banks.  In  1828  the  Bank 
of  Florida  was  incorporated.  Within  the  next  five  years 
the  craze  of  the  times  for  financial  organization  showed 
itself  in  Florida.  Numerous  insurance  companies  and 
banks  with  large  capital  stock  and  broad  powers  were  in- 
corporated— such,  for  instance,  as  the  Central  Bank  of 
Tallahassee,  the  Union  Bank  of  Tallahassee,  and  the  South- 

*  Long,  op.  cit.,  p.  52. 

*  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Florida,  v.  i,  p.  157. 


A  SLAVE-HOLDING  COMMONWEALTH  23 

ern  Life  and  Insurance  Company  of  St.  Augustine.  The 
most  important  of  all  was  the  Union  Bank  of  Tallahassee. 
Its  charter  was  fashioned  after  that  of  the  Union  Bank  of 
Louisiana.^  Its  initial  capital,  $3,000,000,  was  obtained 
from  the  sale  of  Territorial  bonds.  The  property  of  the 
stockholders  to  the  amount  of  the  shares  was  mortgaged 
to  the  territory  as  security  for  the  bonds  issued."  This 
bank  was  not  the  only  financial  institution  aided  by  the  ter- 
ritory. The  Bank  of  Pensacola  received  $500,000  in  bonds 
in  guarantee  of  its  securities,  and  the  Southern  Life  In- 
surance and  Trust  Company,  $395,000. 

The  Union  Bank  thrived  from  the  first.  It  was  a  brilliant 
and  advanced  scheme.  "  Yes,  it  started  with  a  capital  of 
$1,000,000  and  that  is  increased  to  $3,000,000  by  exchang- 
ing the  certificates  of  subscribers  for  territorial  bonds 
which  were  sold  in  Europe.  They  found  purchasers  in 
London — a  wonderful  success,  considering  the  resources 
of  the  territory,  and  could  have  been  accomplished  only  by 
men  so  well  known,"  writes  Mrs.  Long  in  discussing  the 
bank. 

General  Mercer  represented  Virginia  in  Congress  for  thirty 
years,  besides,  he  was  President  of  the  Colonization  Society 
which  gave  him  eclat  in  England,  and  Col.  Gamble  is  also 
known  abroad.     You  want  to  know  how  it  operates?     Well, 

^  Reply  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Union  Bank.  p.  4.  A  very- 
full  discussion  of  the  policy  and  record  of  the  Union  Bank,  British 
Museum,  London. 

*  Reply  of  Board  of  Directors,  pp.  4,  10,  95.  In  1840  the  Directors 
stated  that  to  secure  the  bonds  issued  (to  the  amount  of  $2,917,800) 
246,419  acres  of  land  were  mortgaged  to  the  territory,  valued  at  $1,- 
968,800;  2,680  slaves,  valued  at  $938,000.  The  average  value  of  the 
land  mortgaged  per  acre  was  $8.00,  while  at  the  time  farming  land  in 
Leon  Co.  sold  for  from  $15.00  to  $30.00  per  acre.  The  slaves  were 
mortgaged  at  $350  each,  while  their  average  market  value  was  over 
$600.00. 


24 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


you  see  a  man  can  mortgage  his  land  and  negroes ;  draw  from 
the  bank  two-thirds  (in  money)  of  the  value,  which  will  be 
reinvested  in  more  land  and  negroes.  One  or  two  crops  of 
cotton  will  redeem  all  obligations — so  you  see  it  is  the  best 
thing  afloat;  a  man  can  just  go  to  sleep  and  wake  up  rich. 
"  Go  to  sleep,"  remarked  one,  "  is  a  good  suggestion,  but  un- 
fortunately too  many  are  wide  awake,  spending  money  in  dis- 
play when  their  very  shovel  and  tongs  in  the  kitchen  belong 
to  the  bank."  ^ 

The  increase  of  cotton  fields  and  population  in  Florida, 
Georgia,  and  Alabama  produced  a  noticeable  effect  on  Gulf 
Coast  shipping.  Mobile  absorbed  most  of  the  cotton  which 
territorially  belonged  to  Pensacola,  and  many  cargoes  of 
cotton  by  1835  went  annually  from  St.  Marks.'  St.  Marks 
was  the  point  of  shipment  for  the  planters  of  Leon,  Jef- 
ferson, and  Madison  counties.^  The  first  railway  of  Flor- 
ida was  built  from  Tallahassee  to  St.  Marks  in  1834. 

Near  the  mouth  of  the  Apalachicola  river  the  town  of 
Apalachicola  was  incorporated  in  1831.  Its  trade  with  the 
interior  was  soon  flourishing.  River  steamers  for  the 
Chattahoochee  and  Flint  valleys  loaded  and  unloaded  along 
its  water  front.  Ocean-going  ships  carried  its  cotton  and 
timber  to  Europe  and  the  North.  The  channel  was  dredged 
to  admit  bigger  ships.  Brick  business  blocks  and  spacious 
warehouses  were  built.  By  1836  it  was  the  third  cotton 
port  in  the  Gulf.  Three  years  later  its  weekly  newspaper 
became  a  daily.* 

Within  twenty-five  miles  of  Apalachicola  a  land  and  im- 
provement company  established  the  town  of  St.  Joseph  on 
a  deep  and  well-sheltered  bay.  In  1839  its  backers  claimed 
for  it  a  population  of  more  than  4,000  and  a  commerce  in 

*  Long,  op.  cit.,  p.  84.  *  Smith,  op.  cit.,  p.  265. 

•  Ibid.,  p.  305.  *  Rerick,  op.  cit.,  v.  i,  p.  167. 


A  SLAVE-HOLDING  COMMONWEALTH  25 

cotton  of  more  than  100,000  bales  annually.  A  railroad, 
churches,  newspapers,  docks,  banks,  warehouses,  shops, 
bar-rooms,  cheap  hotels,  and  rough  gambling  places  gave 
this  new  town  the  reputation  and  air  of  a  metropolis,  and 
with  some  of  the  more  Godly  the  notoriety  of  being  a 
"  wicked  city  ",  that  would  come  to  no  good  end.  It  be- 
came an  intense  business  rival  of  Apalachicola.  The  ter- 
ritorial constitutional  convention  met  in  St.  Joseph  during 
1838-9. 

The  end  of  the  town  was  swift  and  tragic.  Yellow  fever 
of  the  most  malignant  type  fairly  wiped  it  out  in  1841. 
The  people  there  "  died  like  flies  ".  Many  fled  the  town. 
The  living  who  remained  could  hardly  bury  the  dead.  "My 
Pa  saved  me  because  he  was  a  horse-doctor  and  believed  in 
ile  and  bleedin'  ,"  one  aged  survivor  said  to  me.  To-day 
two  graveyards  and  vine-covered  ruins  are  all  that  remain 
of  the  "  wicked  city  "  of  St.  Joseph.  About  it  stand  the 
enigmatical  solitudes  of  Florida — the  haunt  to-day  of  the 
owl,  the  alligator,  and  the  whip-poor-will.  Verily  the 
Godly  of  territorial  Florida  have  had  their  prophecy  come 
true.^ 

But  ere  the  end  of  St.  Joseph,  that  national  wave  of  opti- 
mism which  had  been  instrumental  in  creating  it  had  reached 
its  height.  Apalachicola,  Jacksonville,  and  the  whole  line 
of  interior  towns  along  the  St.  Augustine  Road  were  partly 
products  of  "  flush  times  ".  Like  the  sea  waves  that  eter- 
nally roll  in  on  more  than  a  thousand  miles  of  Florida 
coast,  the  wave  of  optimism  and  speculation  broke.  The 
dreadful  panic  of  1837 — the  worst  in  our  history — found 
Florida  still  a  sparsely-settled  territory  built  up  mainly  on 
future  hopes  and  sufficiently  dependent  upon  outside  capital 
to  share  the  disaster  of  the  financial  shock.     The  years 

^  Rerick,  op.  cit.,  v.  i,  p.  167. 


26  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

1835-36  were  "  flush  "  over  the  whole  South.  Cotton  was 
high.  The  banks  seemed  prosperous.  People  were  extra- 
vagant. "  Those  pictures  you  see  of  Napoleon's  battles," 
remarked  a  Florida  planter  before  the  panic,  "  cost  me  a 
whole  crop  of  cotton."  ^  Speculation  was  wild.  Paper 
promises  were  abundant.  Good  land  was  cheap.  "To  make 
more  cotton,  to  buy  more  negroes,  to  make  more  cotton  and 
so  on  in  a  vicious  circle  was  the  rule  of  the  planter."  ^ 

The  panic,  the  contraction  of  credit,  the  public  distrust 
of  banks,  and  the  consequent  business  depression  which 
followed  the  year  1837  hurt  the  reputation  and  prestige  of 
the  banking  party  in  Florida.  It  constituted  by  this  time  a 
fairly  well-defined  political  group  which  included  some  of 
the  wealthiest  planters  and  slave-holders — the  moneyed 
aristocracy. 

Governor  Call,  in  discussing  the  disastrous  effects  of  the 
panic,  declared  that 

the  incorporation  of  banking  companies  without  capital  and 
with  the  extraordinary  privilege  of  raising  millions  of  money 
on  the  faith  and  responsibility  of  the  Territory,  the  expanded 
issues  of  these  institutions  beyond  their  capacity  to  redeem  the 
paper  thrown  by  them  into  circulation,  the  great  facilities  af- 
forded to  individuals  for  procuring  money  and  extending  their 
credit,  gave  to  every  species  of  property  a  ficticious  value  and 
seduced  even  the  most  prudent  and  cautious  into  wild  and 
hazardous  speculation.  .  .  .  The  records  of  our  courts  present 
a  frightful  picture  of  the  indebtedness  of  our  people,  and  dur- 
ing the  past  summer  some  instances  occurred  of  immense  sac- 
rifice of  property  sold  under  execution.^ 

In  the  struggle  for  the  formation  of  a  state  constitution 

*  Long,  op.  cit.,  p.  139. 

*  Smith,  op.  cit.,  p.  321. 

■'•  Rerick,  op.  cit.,  v.  1,  p.  165,  message  of  Gov.  "R.  K.  Call. 


A  SLAVE-HOLDING  COMMONWEALTH 


27 


at  St.  Joseph  in  1839  the  principal  points  of  controversy 
were:  i,  What  powers  should  be  extended  to  banks?  2, 
What  aid  should  be  given  banks  by  the  government  ?  ^ 
When  the  constitution  was  finally  submitted  to  the  people 
for  ratification,  the  contest  was,  primarily,  between  those 
who  favored  the  incorporation  of  banks  with  liberal  char- 
ters and  who  would  continue  government  endorsement  of 
certain  banks'  securities,  and  those  who  would  limit  strictly 
the  business  of  banks  and  who  would  discontinue  the  prac- 
tice of  government  endorsement.^  So  bitter  became  the 
contest  between  Democrats  and  Whigs  that  riot  was  threatr 
ened  in  Tallahassee.^  The  Democrats  supported  the  pro- 
posed constitution  and  opposed  the  renewal  of  the  bank 
charters.*  They  declared  that  the  capital  of  the  Union 
Bank,  for  instance,  was  insecure;  that  the  stock  had  been 
unevenly  distributed  over  the  territory;  that  its  loans  had 
been  dictated  by  rank  favoritism;  that  its  administration 
had  not  been  honest."  The  Whigs  opposed  the  adoption  of 
the  constitution  and  championed  the  banks.  They  were 
stigmatized  by  their  opponents  as  the  "  Federal  Whig 
Bankocracy  who  desire  a  division  of  the  territory,  abolition, 
and  faith  bonds."  "  The  campaign  of  1840  resulted  in  the 
ratification  of  the  constitution  by  a  narrow  margin,  the 
election  of  a  Democratic  delegate  to  Congress,  and  the 
sending  of  a  heavy  Democratic  majority  to  the  territorial 
legislature.''     The  Whigs  were  beaten. 

'  See  debate,  Floridian,  Jan.  5,  1839. 
'  Floridian,  March  9,  1839. 
'  Rerick,  op.  cit.,  v.  i. 

*  Floridian,  Aug.  3,  1839. 

'  Reply  of  Directors,  pp.  5-6. 

*  Floridian,  Apr.  4,  1840. 

*  Floridian,  Oct.  3,  1840;  Rerick,  op.  cit.,  v.  i,  pp.  16&-172.    Seventeen 
of  the  27  delegates  to  the  territorial  legislature  were  Democrats.    Es- 


28  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  constitution  expressly  stipulated  that  the  "  general 
assembly  shall  not  pledge  the  faith  and  credit  of  the  State 
to  raise  funds  in  aid  of  any  corporation  whatsoever." 
Furthermore,  the  legislature  was  forbidden  to  pass  an  act 
of  incorporation  "  unless  with  the  assent  of  at  least  two- 
thirds  of  each  house,"  and  no  "  banking  corporation  "  could 
exist  "  composed  of  less  than  twenty  individuals,  a  majority 
of  whom  shall  be  residents  of  the  State."  No  bank  charter 
should  be  granted  for  a  longer  period  than  twenty  years 
and  no  bank  charter  should  "  be  extended  or  renewed." 
The  charters  of  banks  granted  by  the  legislature  should 
"  restrict  such  banks  to  the  business  of  exchange,  discount, 
and  deposit;  and  they  shall  not  speculate  or  deal  in  real- 
estate  or  the  stock  of  other  corporations  or  associations  or 
the  merchandise  or  chattels  or  be  concerned  in  insurance, 
manufacturing,  exportation  or  importation  except  of  bullion 
or  specie."  Finally,  the  constitution  stipulated  that  the 
capital  stock  of  "  any  bank  "  should  be  created  only  by  the 
actual  payment  of  specie,  that  "  no  dividends  of  profits  ex- 
ceeding lo  per  cent  per  annum  on  the  capital  stock  paid 
in  "  should  be  made ;  that  all  profits  above  lo  per  cent  should 
be  set  apart  and  "  retained  as  a  safety  fund  " ;  and  that  "  no 
president,  cashier  or  other  officer  of  any  banking  com- 
pany "  ^  should  be  eligible  for  any  state  office  until  twelve 
months  after  he  had  severed  his  official  connection  with  all 
banks.  In  regard  to  state  control  of  banks  this  constitu- 
tion was  the  most  drastic  produced  in  the  Union  before  the 
Civil  War. 

The  approval  of  this  constitution  by  the  people  meant 

cambia,  Walton,  Jackson,  Gadsden,  and  Madison  counties  went  solidly- 
Whig  and  for  banks.  Three  out  of  four  delegates  from  Leon  county, 
the  most  populous  in  Florida,  were  anti-bank  or  Democratic 

*  H.  Docs.  (U.  S.),  59th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  357,  v.  ii  (Thorpe's  Constir 
tutions),  Const.  1838,  Arts.  6  and  13. 


A  SLAVE-HOLDING  COMMONWEALTH 


29 


that  the  political  power  of  the  larger  slave-holders  was  seri- 
ously shaken.  In  reality,  1840  witnessed  a  backwoods 
revolution  against  the  conditions  which  capitalism  had  im- 
posed. Florida  was  controlled  by  Jacksonian  Democrats, 
although  in  this  year,  1840,  the  Whigs  gained  the  control 
of  the  national  government.  In  Florida  the  poor  whites 
and  small  slave-holders  attacked  their  more  successful 
neighbors  because  they  believed  these  neighbors  intended 
"  to  clothe  with  purple  and  fine  linen  the  planters  of  Central 
Florida  " ;  and  because  they  knew  that  the  richer  planters 
were  strong  enough  and  able  enough  to  seek  successfully 
capital  from  abroad  and  were  already  dominating  the  terri- 
torial government  to  pledge  land  and  to  grant  franchises  to 
the  local  rich  class  in  order  that  this  class  might  "  shave  its 
own  bills  in  Wall  Street."  ' 

Florida  was  ready  for  statehood.  Before  it  was  admitted 
to  the  Union  it  passed  through  a  long  and  terrible  Indian 
war. 


^  Rerick,  op.  cit.,  v.  i,  p.  166. 


CHAPTER  II 
The  Last  Years  of  the  Ante-Bellum  Regime 

The  financial  depression  which  followed  the  panic  of 
1837  and  the  seven  years'  war  with  the  Seminole  Indians 
which  began  in  1835,  were  terrible  misfortunes  for  Florida. 
Half-cleared  fields  covered  with  weeds,  "  belted  trees 
stripped  of  foliage  standing  like  masts  of  ships  ",^  boom 
towns  no  longer  booming,  rail  fences  rotting  to  earth, 
houses  abandoned  in  process  of  construction,  clambering 
wild  vines  half-hiding  some  task  given  up,  devastated  and 
deserted  plantations,  the  desolate  ashes  of  squatters'  cabins, 
the  new  graves  of  the  massacred  in  the  gloom  of  the  prime- 
val wilderness,  and  the  frightful  traditions  that  went  abroad 
of  forays  by  savages  termed  "  wild  beasts  and  hell 
hounds  " ;  ^  these  were  some  of  the  scars  of  the  double  blow 
which  had  stricken  Florida.  "  It  will  take  us  twenty-five 
years  to  get  over  the  Seminole  War  and  the  Union  Bank," 
was  the  opinion  expressed  by  some.^  "The  tide  of  prosper- 
ity which  once  flowed  over  our  land  has  receded,"  declared 
Governor  Call,  "  and  has  been  followed  by  a  universal  de- 
rangement of  business,  a  depreciated  currency,  prostration 
of  credit,  and  the  embarrassment  of  the  whole  community 
.  .  .  which  can  only  be  overcome  by  years  of  patient  labor, 
industry,  and  economy."  * 

The  Seminole  War  involved  heavy  loss.     20,000  volun- 

*  Long,  Florida  Breezes,  p.  209. 

*  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Florida,  v.  i,  p.  200,  Message  of  Gov.  Reid. 
'  Long,  ibid.,  p.  209. 

*  Rerick,  ibid.,  v.  i,  p.  165,  Message  of  Gov.  Call. 

30 


LAST  YEARS  OF  THE  ANTE-BELLUM  R£GIME 


31 


teers  had  been  called  out  in  Florida  and  neighboring  states 
for  service  against  the  Indians.  For  six  years  about  4,000 
regular  troops  had  been  on  duty.  The  national  govern- 
ment had  expended  more  than  $20,000,000  in  maintain- 
ing and  operating  its  troops.  More  than  1,000  lives  had 
been  lost  in  campaigning.  Outlying  settlements  had  been 
burned  and  the  inhabitants  massacred.  The  Seminoles  had 
fought  like  tigers  and  the  reputations  of  more  than  one 
American  general  had  suffered.^ 

In  spite  of  misfortunes  the  population  of  the  territory 
increased  steadily.  By  1846  it  was  58,000.  Florida  was 
entitled,  therefore,  to  admission  into  the  Union  of  states.^ 
In  accordance  with  the  principle  of  balanced  representation 
in  the  Senate  between  free  soil  and  slave  soil,  bills  for  the 
admission  of  Florida  and  Iowa  were  coupled  together. 
The  former  entered  the  Union  on  the  3rd  of  March,  1845  > 
the  latter,  in  1846.^ 

The  new  Southern  state  began  its  career  with  local  politi- 
cal parties  active  and  well  established.  Within  a  few  years 
the  discussion  of  slavery  in  the  territories  deeply  colored 
politics  in  Florida.  The  entire  nation  was  then  moving  into 
the  thick  of  this  controversy.     The  Democrats  controlled 

'  For  Seminole  War  see  particularly:  Sen.  Docs.,  26th  C,  ist  S.,  No. 
278;  Ex.  Docs.,  25th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  78. 

Also  following  documents:  Ex.  Docs.,  25th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  299;  H. 
Docs.,  26th  C,  1st  S.,  No.  136,  No.  142;  28th  C,  1st  S.,  No.  70;  Sen. 
Docs.,  26th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  226,  No.  227 ;  29th  C,  ist  S.,  No.  22. 

The  following  secondary  works  are  valuable :  Fairbanks,  History  of 
Florida;  Sprague,  Origin,  Progress  and  Conclusion  of  the  Florida 
War,  1848;  Potter,  The  War  in  Florida,  by  a  staff  officer,  1836;  Cohen, 
Notices  of  Florida  and  the  Campaigns,  1836;  Coe,  Red  Patriots;  Gid- 
dings,  J.  R.,  The  Exiles  of  Florida,  1858;  Perrine,  A  True  Story  of 
Some  Eventful  Years  in  Grandpa's  Life,  1885  (a  tremendously  real- 
istic account  of  an  Indian  massacre,  etc.). 

'  H.  Docs.,  28th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  iii,  resolutions  of  Fla.  legislature. 

'  See  Wilson,  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power,  v.  ii,  chap.  i. 


32  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

the  government  in  1846.  They  had  successfully  attacked 
the  rich  Whig  planters  of  Central  Florida  in  1840.  The 
strength  of  the  Democrats  lay  in  the  counties  east  of  the 
Suwanee  river — East  Florida.  Their  opponents,  the  Whigs, 
were  strongest  in  the  western  and  central  counties.  In 
1848  the  Whigs  carried  the  state — electing  the  governor, 
controlling  the  legislature,  and  casting  the  state's  presi- 
dential vote  for  General  Taylor.^  This  was  the  last  Whig 
victory.  The  Democrats  regained  control  of  the  state  two 
years  later,  and  held  it  in  their  grip  until  secession  took  it 
out  of  the  Union  and  brought  a  revolution  which  before  it 
ended  overthrew  and  discredited  the  Democratic  party. 

The  most  significant  phenomena  of  these  ten  years  pre- 
ceding the  great  war  were  the  steady  development  of  a  mili- 
tant pro-slavery  sentiment  and  the  spread  of  cotton  fields 
and  railroads.  Those  who  owned  the  cotton  fields,  pro- 
moted the  railroads,  and  controlled  the  government  were 
slave-holders.  The  majority  of  the  whites  were  non-slave- 
holders. They  belonged  to  this  class  not  from  principle  but 
because  they  were  too  poor  to  belong  to  the  other.  In  1850 
the  population  of  the  five  cotton  counties  of  Central  Flor- 
ida was  approximately  39,000.  The  population  of  the  state 
was  87,445,  39,000  of  whom  were  negro  slaves.  More 
than  22,000  of  these  slaves  were  in  the  five  cotton  counties 
of  Central  Florida  (Jackson,  Gadsden,  Leon,  Jefferson,  and 
Madison).  In  the  other  counties  the  white  population  ex- 
ceeded the  black  about  three  to  one.^  Those  whites  in 
Florida  who  held  slaves  numbered  at  this  time  probably 
3,000. 

The  output  of  cotton  fields,  turpentine  orchards,  and  lum- 
ber camps  constituted  the  exportable  wealth  of  the  state. ^ 

^  Floridian  and  Journal,  Oct.  3;  Oct.  4;   Nov.  11,   1848. 

*  Census  of  1850. 

*  Floridian,  Feb.  18,  Sept.  25,  Sept.  27,  1858.    Floridian  and  Journal, 
Apr.  30,  1859.    De  Bow's  Review,  passim. 


LAST  YEARS  OF  THE  ANTE-BELLUM  REGIME 


33 


Almost  everything  consumed  except  vegetables,  forage,  and 
corn  meal  was  imported.  The  planter  bought  his  goods 
from  the  jobber  merchant  in  the  towns.  The  jobber  pur- 
chased them  generally  in  the  Northern  or  Western  states. 
Even  salt  meat  came  to  many  plantations  of  Florida  from 
the  West  via  New  Orleans.  Mules  and  horses  in  large 
numbers  came  from  Tennessee  and  Kentucky.^  Most  im- 
ports and  exports  passed  through  Pensacola,  St.  Marks, 
and  Apalachicola  on  the  Gulf;  and  Jacksonville  and  Fer- 
nandina  on  the  Atlantic.  In  the  summer  months  many 
of  the  more  prosperous  inhabitants  left  the  coast  towns 
and  sought  a  cooler  portion  of  the  country.  When 
the  autumn  came  the  families  returned;  cotton  began  to 
arrive  by  river  boats  and  railway ;  ocean-going  ships  entered 
the  harbors  to  take  the  cotton  to  distant  ports;  trade  and 
industry  revived;  and  usually  a  season  of  gayety  followed 
which  to  this  day  old  inhabitants  look  back  on  through 
the  enchanted  vista  of  the  "  good  times  before  the  War  " 
when  they  were  young.  Florida's  public  economy  was  typi- 
cally that  of  the  far-southern  slaveholding  commonwealth. 
Cotton  fields  were  many  and  large  and  factories  few  and 
small.  ^ 

The  decade  of  the  fifties  was  a  period  of  unusual  eco- 
nomic activity.'     "  Boom  "  enterprises  in  Florida  began 

^  De  Bow's  Review. 

2  According  to  the  Federal  census  of  i860  only  $1,874,125  were  in- 
vested in  Florida  manufactories,  which  employed  2,454  workers.  $886,- 
000  of  this  amount  was  invested  in  Santa  Rosa  County,  mostly  in  saw- 
mills. 

•  De  Bov/s  Review,  Apr.,  1853,  passim.  In  1850  there  were  less  than 
SO  miles  of  railway  in  Florida.  The  creation  of  the  Internal  Improve- 
ment Fund  by  the  state  in  1855  was  a  prime  cause  of  the  steady  ex- 
pansion of  railway  lines.  The  directors  of  this  fund  endorsed  rail- 
way bonds  to  the  amount  of  $10,000  per  mile  and  gave,  in  addition, 
huge  grants  of  land  to  the  corporations.     See  Minutes  of  Trustees  cf 


34  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

again.  Railroads  were  projected  and  built  with  energy. 
380  miles  of  railway  were  constructed  and  put  into  opera- 
tion during  the  decade  ending  i860,  at  a  cost  of  more  than 
$8,000,000.^  Florida  surpassed  Louisiana,  Texas,  and  Ar- 
kansas in  added  railroad  mileage  for  this  period.  More 
saw-mills  were  built;  more  roads  were  blazed  out;  more 
turpentine  was  extracted  from  the  trees;  more  fields  were 
cleared  for  the  cultivation  of  cotton  and  corn.^  Settlers 
poured  into  the  central  peninsular  counties — Alachua  and 
Marion,  particularly.  The  state's  population  went  from 
87,445  in  1850  to  140,427  in  i860.*  Of  the  77,747  free 
whites  in  Florida  by  the  latter  year,  42,145  were  natives  of 
other  states  and  foreign  countries.  1,725  were  natives  of 
the  North.  The  value  of  the  real  and  personal  property 
rose  from  $22,862,270.00  in  1850  to  $73,101,500.00  in 
i860.*    The  influence  of  Wall  Street  in  the  state's  develop- 

Internal  Improvement  Fund,  5  vols.,  1855,  Florida  Historical  Society, 
Jacksonville.    Also  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Florida,  v.  i,  pp.  168-180. 

Concerning  the  condition  of  transportation  and  communication  by 
stage  line,  river  boat,  and  sea-going  steamer,  see  Floridian  and  Journal, 
Dec.  29,  1849;  May  5,  1857;  Nov.  20,  1858;  East  Floridian,  Nov.  10, 
Dec.  15,  1859;  Florida  News,  Feb.  17,  Apr.  14,  May  5,  Dec.  23,  1858; 
Hunt's  Magazine,  July,  1851;  Banker's  Magazine,  Feb.,  1859;  De  Bow's 
Review,  Jan.  and  July,  1859. 

*  Census  of  i860. 

*  The  Federal  Census  of  1830  reported  349,049  acres  of  improved 
farm  land  in  Florida;  the  census  of  i860  reported  654,213  acres.  The 
horses  and  cattle  in  Florida  increased  from  250,000  to  450,000  head ; 
the  cotton  produced  from  45,000  to  65,000  bales;  corn,  from  2,000,000 
bushels  to  3,000,000  bushels,  etc.  See  Floridian  and  Journal,  Feb.  8, 
1851;  Feb.  4,  Apr.  25,  July  11,  1857;  Feb.  6,  1858;  May  21,  May  28, 
Sept.  17,  1859.  See  also  Message  of  Gov.  Perry  on  the  condition  of 
railways  and  general  economic  development,  East  Floridian,  Dec.  10, 
1859;  Jan.  19,  i860. 

*  Ceiuus  of  1850,  i860. 

*  Census  of  i860.  This  is  not  the  "  assessed  valuation  "  but  is  given 
as  the  "  intrinsic ",  market,  or  true  valuation. 


LAST  YEARS  OF  THE  ANTE-BELLUM  REGIME         35 

ment  then  was  about  as  obvious  as  it  is  to-day.  The  grow- 
ing cotton  and  lumber  trade  to  Europe  was  financed  through 
New  York.  Railway  bonds  and  other  securities  were 
marketed  there.  ^ 

Yet  in  spite  of  this  economic  development,  broadening 
in  its  very  nature,  public  opinion  became  narrowed  down 
and  surely  crystallized  first  against  "  free  soil  "  and  "  aboli- 
tion "  ideas ;  ^  and  finally  against  "  the  North  "  without  dis- 
tinction. When  public  opinion  thus  crystallizes,  either  a 
very  dangerous  or  a  very  safe  condition  has  been  reached 
by  the  body  politic. 

The  national  political  crisis  of  1850  which  came  so  near 
bringing  on  a  civil  war  was  responded  to  in  Florida. 
"  Southern  Rights  Associations  "  were  formed  throughout 
the  state.  The  Fourth  of  July  picnics  and  barbecues  of 
185 1  were  occasions  for  extremely  anti-national  demonstra- 
tions.' At  Madison,  for  example,  after  a  great  crowd  of 
planters  and  poor  whites  had  listened  to  prayers,  the  Bible, 
and  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  toasts  were  offered 
as  follows:  "A  seceder  in  '32,  the  same  in  '51  ";  "May 
peace  be  our  motto  till  war  is  inevitable  ".* 

As  a  factor  in  practical  politics  the  "  Southern  Rights  " 
movement  in  Florida  strengthened  the  Democratic  party 
there.  In  the  Nashville  Convention  of  1850  the  state  was 
represented  by  United  States  Senator  Mallory.  He  was 
not  enthusiastic  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  conven- 
tion was  of  no  importance  beyond  possibly  organizing  the 

*  This  reliance  on  New  York  is  suggested  by  newspapers  and 
pamphlets,  such,  for  instance,  as  Internal  Improvement  Bonds  of  Fla. 
(1858),  a  pamphlet  printed  in  New  York  (Libr.  Fla.  Hist.  Soc.)  ;  Fla. 
R.  R.  First  Mort.  Bonds,  etc.  (Libr.  Fla.  Hist.  Soc). 

*  See  burthen  of  Democratic  accusation  against  the  Whigs,  Floridian 
and  lournal,  Jan.  5,  1855. 

'  Floridian  and  Journal,  March  25,  Apr.  19,  1851. 
^Floridian  and  Sentinel,  July  19,  1851. 


36  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

South  to  stand  united  against  hostile  opinion  in  the  North. 
"  In  ten  years,"  he  said,  "  no  Northern  statesman  would  be 
bold  enough  to  break  a  lance  in  the  Southern  Cause."  ^  The 
future  proved  the  fallacy  of  his  prophecy. 

The  Whigs  lost  the  election  of  1852  by  only  22  votes  out 
of  9,000  cast.  In  the  election  of  1854  the  Democrats  won 
by  1,000  votes  out  of  10,000  cast.^  Following  the  defeat 
of  the  Whigs  in  1852  the  American  party  appeared.  It 
was  the  incomplete  successor  of  the  Whig  party  and  was 
popularly  termed  by  its  opponents  "  Know  Nothing  ".  A 
"  Know  Nothing  "  state  convention  met  in  Tallahassee  dur- 
ing December,  1855.^  Seventeen  counties  were  represented 
by  delegates  who  found  real  difficulty  in  being  themselves 
without  encroaching  upon  Democratic  ground.  A  delega- 
tion was  duly  chosen  for  the  national  convention  and  dis- 
tinctly pro-slavery  resolutions  were  adopted. 

The  Democrats  were  singularly  aggressive  in  the  con- 
gressional elections  of  1854  and  the  general  election  of 
1856.  The  issues  were  national  issues — the  Kansas  ques- 
tion, the  policy  of  Mr.  Douglas,  the  Fugitive  Slave  law, 
national  expansion.*  Slavery  underlay  in  some  fashion 
every  question  of  public  moment  taken  up  for  discussion. 
The  Democrats  carried  both  elections,®  and  followed  it  by 
winning  the  congressional  election  of  1858  with  an  in- 
creased majority.'     The  "  Know  Nothing  "  strength  was 

*  Floridian  and  Journal,  Feb.  8,  1851. 

'  Florida  Sentinel,  Oct.  10,  24,  Nov.  7,  1854, 

*  Floridian  and  Sentinel,  Dec.  11,  1855. 

*  Floridian  and  Journal,  Jan.  5,  Feb.  23,  Mch.  8,  18,  Apr.  12,  26,  May  3, 
June  17,  July  12,  19,  Aug.  23,  26,  30,  Sept.  13,  1856. 

*  Florida  Sentinel,  Nov.  7,  1854;  Floridian  and  Journal,  Oct.  11,  1856. 
^Florida  News,  Feb.  17,  May  26,  June  9,  Aug.  14,  1858;  March  17, 

1859;  Floridian  and  Journal,  Feb.  13,  July  31,  Aug.  14,  28,  Sept.  18, 
1858;  East  Floridian,  July  14,  1859;  Floridian,  Nov.  26,  1859. 


LAST  YEARS  OF  THE  ANTE-BELLUM  REGIME 


37 


being  absorbed  by  the  more  positive  Southern  Democracy. 
The  state  was  steadily  drifting  completely  into  the  Demo- 
cratic column,  and  Southern  leaders  of  the  Democratic 
party  were  becoming  with  each  election  more  pronounced 
and  clear  in  their  demands. 

Governor  Perry's  message  of  1858  recommended  the  re- 
organization of  the  state's  militia.  "The  late  elections  in  the 
non-slave-holding  states,"  he  wrote,  "  bode  no  good  for 
us  in  the  South."  ^  The  nation  was  inevitably  moving 
toward  the  parting  of  the  ways.  Many  thoughtful  persons 
must  have  realized  it  by  this  time.  The  idea  of  possible 
secession  had  become  old.  The  attempt  of  John  Brown 
to  bring  about  a  slave  insurrection  in  Virginia  (1859) 
found  an  inflamed  public  opinion  in  Florida.^  The  lead- 
ing papers  published  long  accounts  with  heavy  headlines  of 
this  narrowly-averted  servile  rising.  An  alarum  of  unfor- 
tunate depth  was  sounded.  The  more  susceptible  among 
the  whites  expressed  fear  that  abolition  fanaticism  would 
cause  the  blacks  to  repeat  the  horrors  of  Santo  Domingo. 
Governor  Perry,  in  his  message  of  December,  1859,  declared 
that  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  in  the  North  made  that  sec- 
tion aggressively  hostile  toward  the  South;  that  the  people 
of  the  North  had  annulled  the  written  contract  by  their  re- 
fusal to  render  up  fugitive  slaves ;  that  the  "  John  Brown 
villainy  "  was  part  of  the  Republican  party's  policy ;  that 
he  was  in  favor  of  "  eternal  separation  from  the  Union." 
He  expressed  his  fear  of  a  slave  rising.^ 

The  appearance  of  the  incendiary  Impending  Crisis  by 
Hinton  Rowan  Helper  fed  the  dangerous  flame  of  ill-will. 

*  Floridian  and  Journal,  Nov.  20,  1858,  Governor's  Message. 

*  Florida   newspapers,    1859-60,    passim;    also    The   New   Reign    of 
Terror,  etc.,  anti-slavery  tract  (p.  132). 

^  East  Floridian,  Dec.  15,  1859. 


38  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

In  Florida  notices  of  it  appeared  prominently  in  various 
papers  and  extracts  from  the  most  violent  passages  were 
printed  on  the  front  page  of  the  influential  Fernandina 
East  Floridian} 

The  year  i860  in  Florida  was  one  of  unrest,  suppressed 
feeling  and  vague  military  preparation.  Volunteer  mili- 
tary companies  were  organized  in  Fernandina  and  Talla- 
hassee because  of  the  "  critical  state  of  national  affairs  ".' 
One  journal  published  an  article  on  the  cost  of  raising  and 
equipping  a  brigade  for  active  service.^  "  Vigilant  com- 
mittees "  were  formed  in  the  various  towns  to  suppress 
slave  risings  and  to  send  out  of  the  state  those  persons  sus-" 
pected  of  being  abolitionists.* 

Democrats  were  prominent  in  this  agitation.  Local  lead- 
ers were  vigorously  at  work  throughout  Florida  during  the 
spring  and  summer  of  i860.  The  state  administration  was 
Democratic  and  the  governor  used  the  influence  of  his  posi- 
tion to  arouse  the  state.  The  legislature,  which  was  Demo- 
cratic, was  responsive  to  the  radical  influence  of  the  Demo- 
cratic governor,  and  he  responsive  to  the  legislature.  From 
one  end  of  the  state  to  the  other,  county  and  local  Demo- 
cratic leaders  engineered  ably  the  campaign  of  1860." 
Their  cry  was :  "Oppose  the  North,  which  seeks  the  control 
of  the  national  government  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  ter- 
ritories and  destroy  it  in  the  South."  The  facts  in  the  case 
made  their  position  a  strong  one. 

They  were  opposed  by  the  Constitutional  Union  party — 
composed  of  conservative  Democrats  and  Old-Line  Whigs. 

^  East  Floridian,  Dec.  22,  1859. 

*  Fhridian,  Dec.  31,  1859.    E.  Floridian  (Fernandina),  Jan.  5,  i860. 

•  E.  Floridian,  Jan.  19,  i860, 

*  Ibid.,  Oct.  4,  18,  Nov.  7,  i860. 

•  Floridian,  Apr.  7,  14,  i860,  etc. 


LAST  YEARS  OF  THE  ANTE-BELLUM  RSGIME 


39 


Its  personnel  included  a  large  number  of  the  Scotch  Pres- 
byterians of  West  Florida  and  many  of  the  most  aristo- 
cratic and  wealthy  planters  of  the  cotton  counties  west  of 
the  Suwanee  river.  The  Constitutional  Union  convention 
met  in  Quincy  early  in  April. ^  The  party  resolutions 
adopted  there  acknowledged  the  "  wrongs  inflicted  on  the 
South ",  but  advanced  a  pacific,  rational,  and  judicial 
method  for  righting  these  wrongs — differing  thereby  with 
the  Democratic  policy.  The  policy  of  the  Constitutional 
Union  party  was,  in  fact,  that  of  a  calm  and  wise  lawyer 
seeking  a  compromise.  But,  unfortunately,  the  country- 
was  in  no  mood  for  restrained  behavior.  Men  believed  that 
they  saw  clearly  where  the  interests  of  the  South  clashed 
with  the  intentions  of  the  North.  Compromise  would  en- 
tail sacrifice — and  the  South,  driven  to  the  wall,  had  noth- 
ing to  sacrifice  except  that  which  involved  absolutely  its  im- 
mediate prosperity. 

A  Democratic  state  convention  met  in  Tallahassee  on 
April  9th. ^  Its  resolutions  endorsed  the  action  of  a  recent 
Democratic  state  caucus  at  Washington;  reviewed  the  his- 
torical foundation  of  state  rights;  declared  negro  slavery 
to  be  a  necessary  domestic  institution ;  declared  it  to  be  the 
duty  of  Congress  to  protect  slavery  in  the  territories;  and 
insisted  upon  the  strict  enforcement  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
law. 

Florida  was  well  represented  at  the  national  Democratic 
convention  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  where  the  fatal  sectional 
division  within  the  Democratic  party  was  exposed.'     Its 

1  Floridian,  Apr.  14,  i860. 

2  Ibid.,  Apr.  14 ;  E.  Floridian,  Apr.  19,  i860. 

The  Florida  delegation  included  John  Milton  of  Jackson  County; 
Chas.  E.  Dyke  of  Leon  County,  editor  of  the  Tallahassee  Floridian; 
J.  B.  Owens  of  Marion  County.  John  Milton  was  shortly  after  elected 
governor  of  Florida.    Floridian,  Apr.  14,  i860. 


40 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


delegation,  as  a  body,  seceded  from  the  convention  with  the 
other  cotton  state  delegations  when  the  convention,  con- 
trolled by  the  Northern  Democracy,  failed  to  endorse  the 
extreme  and  uncompromising  Southern  view.  The  Florida 
protest,  signed  by  the  state's  delegates  and  laid  before  the 
convention,  was  as  follows: 

The  undersigned  Democratic  delegates  from  the  State  of 
Florida  enter  this  their  solemn  protest  against  the  action  of  the 
Convention  in  voting  down  the  platform  of  the  majority. 
Florida  with  her  Southern  sisters  is  entitled  to  a  clear  and  un- 
ambiguous recognition  of  her  rights  in  the  territories,  and  this 
being  refused  by  the  rejection  of  the  Majority  Report,  we  pro- 
test against  receiving  the  Cincinnati  Platform  with  the  inter- 
pretation that  it  favors  the  Doctrine  of  Squatter  Sovereignty 
in  the  territories,  which  doctrine,  in  the  name  of  the  people  we 
represent  we  repudiate.^ 

The  delegates  from  Florida — T.  J.  Eppes,  B.  F.  Ward- 
low,  John  Milton,  J.  B.  Owens,  and  C.  E.  Dyke — soon  re- 
turned to  their  state.  The  news  of  what  had  happened  at 
Charleston  preceded  them.  The  Democratic  party  had  split 
in  twain  over  the  slavery  issue.  The  news  was  of  tre- 
mendous import  to  the  people  of  Florida.  Mass  meetings 
were  called  together  in  practically  all  important  towns  and 
villages,  and  along  with  impassioned  talk  resolutions  were 
adopted  which  endorsed  the  action  of  the  Florida  delegates 
in  withdrawing.^  John  Milton,  a  prominent  planter  of 
Jackson  county,  on  his  return  from  the  convention  spoke  to 
crowds  of  people  in  Fernandina  and  Tallahassee  concern- 
ing what  had  transpired  at  Charleston.  He  emphatically 
stated  that  the  failure  to  agree  was  not  due  to  petty  wrang- 
ling between   Northern   and    Southern   politicians.      The 

*  Floridian,  May  5,  i860, 

'  E.  Floridian,  May  12,  24,  31,  June  14,  i860. 


LAST  YEARS  OF  THE  ANTE-BELLUM  R&GIME 


41 


cause,  he  said,  lay  in  the  profound  difference  in  public  opin- 
ion North  and  South/ 

All  Florida  Democrats  were  not  in  sympathy  with  either 
the  act  of  withdrawal  at  Charleston  or  the  attempt  which 
followed  to  form  a  Southern  Democratic  party.  United 
States  Senator  Yulee  wrote  from  Washington  to  C.  E. 
Dyke,  editor  of  the  Floridian,  strongly  protesting  against 
the  sending  of  a  delegation  to  the  Southern  Democratic 
convention  called  to  meet  in  Richmond,  Va.  He  stated  that 
the  formation  of  a  Southern  party  would  weaken  the  South- 
ern cause.^  His  views  coincided  with  those  of  a  conserva- 
tive minority  in  Florida. 

But  the  Democratic  state  convention  which  met  in 
Quincy,  June  4th,  took  the  radical  Southern  position.  Del- 
egates were  here  chosen  for  the  Richmond  convention  and 
John  Milton  of  Jackson  county.  West  Florida,  was  nomi- 
nated for  governor  on  the  twenty-third  ballot,  after  a 
fierce  contest." 

The  Constitutional  Unionists  were  active.  They  chose 
a  full  delegation  for  the  National  convention  to  meet  in 
Baltimore;  nominated  Colonel  Edward  Hopkins,  a  well- 
to-do  planter,  for  governor ;  and  prepared  generally  to  con- 
test the  elections  vigorously.*  They  charged  the  Demo- 
cratic party  with  deliberately  planning  disunion.  The 
Democrats  did  not  seek  to  deny  the  charge. 

At  a  Democratic  meeting  in  Jacksonville  on  May  15th, 
it  was  resolved  that 

regardless  who  may  be  the  nominee  of  the  several  presidential 

^  E.  Floridian,  May  3,  10,  12,  i860.     J.  J.  Williams  and  T.  J.  Eppes 
also  spoke  in  Fernandina  on  the  convention. 

*  E.  Floridian,  June  14,  i860. 

'  Floridian,  June  16,  21,  i860. 

*  Ibid.,  June  23,  30,  i860. 


42 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


conventions  or  who  may  be  elected  President,  if  it  appear 
from  such  election  that  a  majority  of  the  people  or  the  states 
of  this  Union  deny  to  the  South  the  amplest  protection  and 
security  to  slave  property  in  the  territories  owned  by  the  Gen- 
eral Government,  or  if  it  indicate  approbation  of  the  continued 
refusal  of  the  free  states  to  surrender  fugitive  slaves  when 
legally  demanded  .  .  .  then  we  are  of  the  opinion  that  the 
rights  of  the  citizens  of  Florida  are  no  longer  safe  in  the 
Union  and  we  think  that  she  should  raise  the  banner  of  seces- 
sion and  invite  her  Southern  sisters  to  join  her. 

At  a  Democratic  meeting  in  Gainesville,  on  May  2ist,  it  was 
resolved  that  "  if  in  consequence  of  Northern  fanaticism 
the  irrepressible  conflict  must  come  we  are  prepared  to 
meet  it ".  Another  meeting  resolved  that  "  we  would  sac- 
rifice our  lives  before  we  would  yield  to  the  Black  Repub- 
lican Party  ".' 

The  campaign  was  fought  out  stubbornly  and  sharply, 
but  the  passing  weeks  showed  the  weak  points  in  the  posi- 
tion of  the  Constitutional  Union  party. ^  Its  rational  con- 
servatism was  not  popular  in  this  crisis.  What  program 
had  it  to  ofifer  in  case  the  Republicans  won?  The  state 
seemed  strongly  Democratic.  Of  the  twenty-two  news- 
papers in  Florida  seventeen  were  Democratic,  which  num- 
ber included  the  most  influential  journals.' 

The  methods  of  radical  Southern  politicians  were  often 
dictatorial  and  bulldozing — causing  here  and  there  lawless 
outbreaks  when  regulators  attempted  to  coerce  opponents. 
Following  the  John  Brown  incident  at  Harper's  Ferry  and 
the  organization  in  the  North  of  the  "  Wide  Awakes  "  and 

*  E.  Floridian,  Aug.  23,  i860. 

'  E.  Floridian,  July  9,  26,  Aug.  23,  Sept.  6,  i860;  Floridian,  Aug.  13, 
25,  Sept.  8,  i860,  passim. 

*  The  U.  S.  Census  of  i860  gave  Florida  only  20  papers,  17  of  which 
were  weeklies,  one  bi-weekly,  and  two  tri-weekly. 


LAST  YEARS  OF  THE  ANTE-BELLUM  REGIME         43 

similar  organizations,  "  vigilant  committees "  and  com- 
panies of  "  Minute  Men  "  were  formed  in  several  counties 
in  Florida.  The  idea  came  probably  from  South  Carolina. 
The  professed  object  of  these  extra-legal  bands  was  to  keep 
an  eye  on  the  slaves  and  those  suspected  of  being  Aboli- 
tionists. Some  did  more  than  this.  They  attempted  to 
drive  out  of  the  country  those  persons  suspected  of  being 
not  in  sympathy  with  the  extreme  Southern  position. 

In  July  (i860),  for  instance,  a  Dr.  Wm.  HoUingworth 
was  attacked  at  night  in  his  home  in  Bradford  county  by 
regulators  because  of  his  anti-Southern  views.  The  as- 
sailants fired  on  him  through  windows  and  doors.  He  and 
his  son  fought  back  until  the  elder  man  was  badly  wounded. 
The  end  of  the  tragedy  is  not  recorded.  In  East  Florida 
bands  of  whippers  and  thugs  operated  through  the  country 
at  this  time.  They  were  reported  to  have  secret  signs  of 
recognition  and  pass- words  and  to  be  "  bound  together  by 
horrid  oaths  and  penalties  ".  Men  were  dragged  from  their 
beds  at  night,  stripped,  blind-folded,  taken  into  the  woods 
and  whipped.  In  East  Florida  near  Santa  Fe  a  local  vigi- 
lant committee  found  one  James  Douglas  guilty  of  tamper- 
ing with  the  slaves.  They  shaved  his  head  and  sent  him 
out  of  the  state.  In  Escambia  County,  West  Florida,  a  man 
who  was  rather  loud  in  his  condemnation  of  the  Southern 
viewpoint  was  taken  from  his  house  into  the  back  yard  and 
there,  in  the  presence  of  a  sick  wife,  brutally  whipped.  She 
died  from  the  ordeal  of  witnessing  the  beating  and  he  be- 
came a  bitter  Unionist  during  the  war. 

In  Calhoun  County  (West  Florida)  a  party  of  men  call- 
ing themselves  "  regulators  "  visited  the  house  of  one  Jesse 
Durden,  late  in  October,  i860.  They  murdered  Durden 
and  then,  proceeding  down  the  county  road,  overtook  two 
of  the  dead  man's  friends  whom  they  likewise  killed.  The 
friends  and  relatives  of  the  three  dead  rose  to  avenge  the 


44 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


killings.  The  conflict  soon  reached  such  proportions  in 
Calhoun  County  that  Judge  J.  J.  Finley  of  the  state  circuit 
court  declared  the  county  to  be  in  a  condition  of  "  insur- 
rectionary war,"  and  Adj. -Gen.  Anderson  promptly  or- 
dered there  a  brigade  of  state  militia.  At  the  same  time 
the  Federal  judge  for  the  northern  district  of  Florida,  Mc- 
Queen Mcintosh — later  a  radical  in  the  secession  conven- 
tion— directed  his  United  States  deputy  marshal,  H.  K. 
Simmons,  to  summon  a  posse  and  execute  such  processes 
in  Calhoun  County  as  he  should  order.  A  company  of  mil- 
itia from  Jackson  County  marched  into  the  affected  district, 
the  so-called  insurrection  was  suppressed,  and  twenty-seven 
arrests  made — besides  the  binding  under  peace  bonds  of 
some  thirty  individuals.^ 

The  real  character  of  these  lawless  conflicts  immediately 
preceding  the  war  has  never  been  historically  established. 
Did  the  Democrats  in  these  localities  resort  to  such  means 
in  order  to  crush  the  obstruction  of  minorities  ?  or  were  the 
Democratic  majorities  made  and  held  by  systematic  terror- 
ism and  coercion  ?  or  was  there  no  connection  at  all  between 
Democratic  politics  and  violence?  Certainly  in  those  sec- 
tions of  the  state  where  most  trouble  existed  in  i860  were 
found  during  the  War  most  deserters  and  "  Union  Men  " 
or  anti-Confederates — as,  for  instance,  in  Calhoun  and  Es- 
cambia Counties.  The  two  judges  who  were  most  promi- 
nent in  suppressing  the  Calhoun  County  trouble  were  soon 
after  leading  figures  in  taking  the  state  from  the  Union. 

Bad  feeling  was  painfully  evident  in  the  fall  of  i860  and 
wild  expressions  were  running  loose,  such,  for  instance,  as 
the  following: 

These  associations  [vigilant  committees]  should  be  composed 
of  firm,  respectable,  and  prudent  men.     The  election  of  Lin- 

*  £.  Floridian,  Oct.  18,  31,  i860. 


LAST  YEARS  OF  THE  ANTE-BELLUM  R£GIME 


45 


coin  now  so  imminent  will  doubtless  embolden  many  of  his 
followers  to  visit  the  South  for  the  purpose  of  spreading  his 
damn  doctrine.  Let  Florida  be  prepared  to  give  all  such  a 
meet  and  proper  reception.  If  any  individual  is  convicted  of 
tampering  with  our  slaves  let  him  die  the  death  of  a  felon.  If 
they  furnish  necks,  hemp  is  cheap  and  oak  limbs  handy. 

Before  the  autumn  elections  the  press  began  to  discuss 
the  method  of  seceding  in  case  the  Republican  party  elected 
the  President.^  The  people  of  Florida  did  not  believe  that 
secession  would  be  a  peaceful,  constitutional  process.  The 
dreadful  note  of  preparation  for  war  was  in  the  air.  "From 
every  portion  of  the  South  exchanges  bring  accounts  of 
formation,  arming,  and  drilling  of  military  corps."  In 
Florida,  following  the  advice  of  Governor  Perry,  the  legis- 
lature, by  statute,  provided  for  the  reorganization  of  the 
state  militia.  Elections  were  held  during  the  spring  of 
i860  putting  into  operation  the  law.^  Companies  of  "  Min- 
ute Men  "  were  forming  in  hamlet  after  hamlet  and  coal- 
escing into  larger  military  bodies.  The  magazine  was  pre- 
pared for  the  explosion  when  the  spark  should  be  dropped. 
The  people  awaited  with  suppressed  agitation  the  result  of 
the  national  election. 

The  Democratic  party  was  desperately  active.  Vitupera- 
tion and  invective  were  poured  out  upon  the  heads  of  Lin- 
coln and  his  followers.  The  Democratic  speakers  and  edi- 
tors with  force  and  reason  appealed  to  men's  passions  in 
their  discussion  of  Southern  rights.  Their  positive  pro- 
gram of  no  compromise  with  Republicanism  won  votes. 
Yet  the  Constitutional  Unionists  fought  hard  and  skil- 
fully and  with  the  prestige  of  aristocratic  leadership. 

The    Breckinridge    and    Lane    (Southern    Democratic) 

*  Floridian,  Nov.  3,  i860. 

*  E.  Floridian,  May  24,  i860;  Floridian,  July  14,  i860. 


46  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

ticket  carried  the  state,  on  the  7th  of  November,  by  a  sub- 
stantial majority.    The  votes  cast  were  as  follows : 

Breckinridge  and  Lane   8,543 

Bell  and  Everett  (Constitutional  Unionist)    5,437 

Douglas  and  Johnson  (Northern  Democratic)    367 

Lincoln   and   Hamlin    (Republican)    o 

14,347 
Breckinridge  and  Lane  majority   1,369  ^ 

"  Are  you  ready?"  asked  the  Floridian  of  its  readers  on 
the  day  that  the  fatal  votes  were  cast.  They  were.  A  few 
days  later  that  journal  struck  well  the  common  sentiment  in 
Florida  when  it  declared :  "  Lincoln  is  elected.  There  is  a 
beginning  of  the  end.  Sectionalism  has  triumphed.  What 
is  to  be  donef    We  say  resist. 


>}  2 


*  Stanwood,  E.,  History  of  the  Presidency,  p.  297;  Greeley,  American 
Convict,  V.  i ;  Greeley's  and  Stanwood's  figures  do  not  exactly  agree. 

*  Floridian,  Nov.  10,  i860. 


CHAPTER  III 

Secession 

From  another  quarter  of  the  state  came  the  expression 
of  similar  opinion.  "  Secession  of  the  state  of  Florida. 
Dissolution  of  the  Union.  Formation  of  a  Southern  Con- 
federacy," ran  the  headlines  of  a  leading  newspaper.  The 
account  continued: 

The  time  has  come — Lincoln  is  elected — The  curtain  has  risen 
and  the  fir«t  act  of  the  dark  drama  of  Black  R^ublicanism  has 
been  represented — The  issue  has  been  boldly  made — Throw 
doubt  and  indecision  to  the  winds — the  requisite  steps  should 
be  taken  at  once  for  the  arming  and  equipment  of  every  able- 
bodied  man — The  irrepressible  conflict  has  commenced — We 
must  meet  it  manfully  and  bravely — Florida  will  secede.^ 

In  many  towns  of  the  state  mass  meetings  protested 
against  the  election  of  Lincoln.^  They  were  Demo- 
cratic meetings,  but  as  the  Southern  Democratic  party 
was  in  power  and  borne  up  by  a  rising  wave  of  popu- 
larity, their  proceedings  probably  reflect  with  fair  accur- 
acy the  temper  of  more  than  the  party  majority.  Florida 
became  perceptibly  more  radical  after  the  election.  In 
Gainesville,  Alachua  County,  a  meeting  called  upon  the 
legislature  by  resolution  to  order  a  convention  of  "  the  peo- 
ple ".  Secession,  it  thought,  was  the  proper  course  for  the 
state.    It  advised  that  all  citizens  arm  and  that  the  state  be 

i£.  Floridian,  Nov.  14,  i86o. 

'Floridian,  Nov.  24,  i860;  E.  Floridian,  Nov.  28,  i860. 

47 


48  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

put  immediately  in  a  condition  for  defense.^  Radical  Gov- 
ernor Perry  was  from  Alachua  County. 

Late  in  November  the  governor  submitted  his  message 
to  the  legislature.  He  was  a  vigorous  and  direct  man  as 
well  as  an  active  politician.  His  position  in  this  crisis  was 
never  in  doubt.  His  message  on  the  situation  was  as  clear 
and  strong  as  it  was  narrow  and  bitter.  "  The  crisis  ex- 
pected by  men  of  observation  and  reflection  has  at  last 
come,"  he  said: 

The  only  hope  that  the  Southern  states  have  for  domestic 
peace  or  for  future  respect  or  prosperity  is  dependent  on  their 
action  now,  and  that  action  is,  secession  from  faithless,  per- 
jured confederates.  But  some  Southern  men  object  to  seces- 
sion until  some  overt  act  of  unconstitutional  power  shall  have 
been  committed.  If  we  wait  for  such  an  overt  act  our  fate 
will  be  that  of  the  whites  in  Santo  Domingo.  I  recommend 
that  a  convention  of  the  people  be  called  at  an  early  date  to 
take  such  action  as  necessary.  I  further  recommend  that  the 
militia  laws  be  revised  and  that  $100,000  be  appropriated  as  a 
military  fund  for  the  ensuing  year,  to  be  expended  as  the 
public  necessity  may  require.^ 

These  very  pronounced  views  met  with  wide  endorsement. 
One  political  enemy  of  the  governor  stated  that  the  senti- 
ments expressed  would  "  coincide  with  the  views  of  a  vast 
majority  of  the  citizens  of  Florida."  ^ 

The  legislature  acted  promptly.  In  the  senate  were  now 
thirteen  Democrats  and  eight  termed  "  Opposition  " ;  in  the 
house,  thirty-seven  Democrats  and  ten  "  Opposition  ".* 
The  opposition  was  afifected  by  the  radical  spirit  of  the  ma- 
jority.    When  on  November  28th,  a  bill  was  presented  in 

*  E.  Floridian,  Nov.  28,  i860. 

*  Gov.'s  Mess.,  Floridian,  Dec.  i,  i860. 

*  E.  Floridian,  I>ec.  5,  i860. 
*Ihid.,  Nov.  17,  i860. 


SECESSION 


49 


the  legislature  for  the  calling  of  a  convention  to  consider 
the  question  of  Florida's  position  in  the  Union,  it  passed 
both  houses  with  but  one  dissenting  vote.  On  November 
30th  the  bill  became  a  law.  It  provided  for  a  special  elec- 
tion on  December  22nd  of  delegates  to  a  "  convention  of 
the  people  ".  This  convention,  according  to  the  statute, 
was  to  assemble  in  Tallahassee  on  January  3rd.  Its  pros- 
pective business  was  to  take  the  state  out  of  the  Union.^ 
On  the  day  that  the  convention  bill  became  a  law,  Novem- 
ber 30th,  Governor  Perry  issued  a  proclamation  setting 
forth  the  conditions  of  the  coming  election.  Judges  of  pro- 
bate were  directed  to  appoint  inspectors  and  to  make  all 
other  necessary  arrangements.  The  object  of  the  conven- 
tion was  declared  to  be  to  "  consider  the  dangers  incident 
to  the  position  of  the  state  in  the  Federal  Union  and  to 
amend  the  constitution  in  any  way  necessary."  ^ 

Florida  was  rapidly  and  surel}'^  making  toward  seces- 
sion. Some  men  tried  desperately  at  this  late  date  to 
change  the  course  of  public  opinion.  Their  efforts  proved 
pathetically  futile.  The  5,804  Constitutional  Unionists 
and  Douglas  Democrats  were  now  a  negligible  force  in 
controlling  the  destinies  of  the  state.  Ex-Governor  Rich- 
ard Call  of  Tallahassee,  who  had  come  into  Florida  with 
Andrew  Jackson,  who  had  stood  by  his  chief  in  the  Nulli- 
fication controversy  with  South  Carolina,  and  who  clung 
to  earlier  ideals  of  positive  nationalism,  strove  to  assemble 
the  people,  "  here  and  there.  But  faction  leaders  would 
not  let  the  people  hear  him.  Counter-meetings  and  closed 
doors  excluded  him.  Pleadingly  he  argued  and  wrote  and 
published,  and  in  the  name  of  God  and  his  country  he  de- 
clared the  contemplated  act  treason.  Few  would  listen  and 
some  noisy,  brainless  fellows  called  him  a  submissionist."  ^ 

'  Floridian,  Dec.  5,  i860.  *  Procl.,  E.  Floridian,  Dec.  5,  i860. 

'  Long,  Fla.  Breezes,  p.  283. 


50 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


On  December  ist,  he  issued  a  pamphlet  containing  his  ap- 
peal.    "  My  fellow  citizens,"  he  wrote, 

on  Monday  last  your  legislature  met.  Secession  was  the 
watchword,  and  reply,  and  on  Thursday  before  the  hour  of  12 
was  consummated  an  act  amid  rapt  applause  which  may  pro- 
duce the  most  fatal  consequences.  This  act  provides  for  a 
convention  of  the  people  to  be  chosen  with  the  same  rushing 
haste  to  assemble  in  your  capital  on  January  3rd,  next.  And 
for  what  purpose  ?  Secession  of  the  State  of  Florida  from  the 
Union.  I  proclaim  that  when  that  deed  shall  be  done  it  will 
be  treason,  high  treason  against  our  constitutional  govern- 
ment. Is  the  election  of  a  sectional  president  by  a  sectional 
party  consisting  of  less  than  one-third  of  the  political  strength 
of  the  Nation  sufficient  cause  for  justifying  rebellion  and  revo- 
lution against  your  government  ?  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  the  pres- 
ent disunion  movement  in  Florida  is  not  because  of  the  elec- 
tion of  Mr.  Lincoln  but  from  a  long-cherished  hatred  of  the 
Union  by  the  leading  politicians  of  the  State?  Wait  then,  I 
pray  you,  wait !  ^ 

But  the  legislature  and  the  governor  did  not  wait.  Within 
two  weeks  $100,000  were  appropriated  for  military  pur- 
poses and  Governor  Perry  had  left  the  state  ostensibly  for 
the  purchase  of  arms  and  ammunition.^  The  legislature  and 
governor  evidently  believed  that  they  were  acting  in  har- 
mony with  the  will  of  the  "  people  at  home  ".  The  fact  is, 
Southern  slavery  was  threatened  as  never  before.  The 
Southern  planter  opposed  the  destruction  of  a  system  on 
which  his  worldly  prosperity  depended.  And  the  poor 
white,  with  no  slaves  to  lose  or  rich  lands  to  decrease  in 
value  if  the  social  system  should  be  so  radically  changed, 
was  opposed  to  the  idea  of  the  free  negro.  To  the  slave, 
the  poor  white  was  merely  "  low-down  white  trash  ".     The 

^  Pamphlet  containing  appeal  of  Call,  Libr.  P.  K.  Yonge,  Pensacola. 
*  E.  Floridian,  Dec.  12,  i860. 


SECESSION 


51 


"  white  trash  "  reciprocated  by  having  no  particular  liking 
for  "  a  damn  nigger  ".  The  possibility  of  a  proletariat  of 
blacks  and  whites  was  distasteful  to  those  poverty-stricken 
Caucasians  who  foresaw,  by  instinct  if  not  by  intelligence, 
what  might  come  to  pass. 

All  intelligent  men  of  the  South,  regardless  of  riches  or 
enlightenment,  knew  that  the  party  which  won  the  national 
elections  of  i860  received  its  support  in  the  North  and  was 
hostile  to  slavery.  Most  men  of  conservative  opinion  be- 
lieved that  the  activity  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  im- 
mediate future  would  be  directed  only  toward  making  the 
territories  free  soil,  restricting  the  spread  of  slavery.  Men 
of  this  opinion  did  not  counsel  secession  because  conditions, 
they  thought,  warranted  no  such  radical,  dangerous  move. 

The  majority  of  those  persons  in  Florida  who  swayed 
and  formulated  public  opinion  during  i860  seemed  con- 
vinced in  all  sincerity  that  the  victorious  political  party 
North  meant,  somehow,  to  cripple  and  ultimately  to  de- 
stroy slavery.  In  any  legislative  war  on  slavery  other  in- 
terests of  the  South  would  suffer.  A  hostile  national  ad- 
ministration, a  hostile  national  legislature,  and  a  hostile 
public  opinion  in  the  North  sustaining  such  a  government — 
these  were  the  conditions  which  the  Southerner  believed 
that  he  observed  in  1860-1861.^ 

"  When  the  political  success  of  the  Republican  party  cul- 
minated in  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,"  stated  Senator 
Mallory,  of  Florida,  at  a  later  date,  "  the  conviction  of  the 
Southern  mind  that  it  would  pursue  a  course  of  unjust,  un- 
equal and  class  legislation,  toward  the  South,  as  well  with 
regard  to  other  vital  interests  as  to  those  of  slavery,  and 

^  See  letters  of  S.  R.  Mallory  and  D.  L.  Yulee,  Senators,  for  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  Southern  position.  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  8,  pp.  637, 
662-70.  Also,  letters,  proclamations  and  messages  of  Gov.  Milton,  Mil- 
ton Papers,  MSS. 


52  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

that  submission  would  equally  disgrace,  demoralize  and 
impoverish  her  people,  kindled  and  sustained  the  fires  of 
revolution."  ^  The  leaders  in  the  attempted  revolution 
were  slave-holders — trusted  and  respected  and,  in  some 
cases,  beloved  by  the  millions  of  whites  too  poor  to  hold 
slaves. 

And  there  was  another  reason  for  opposing  the  North 
which  did  not  proceed  directly  from  fear  of  Congressional 
interference  with  slavery  in  the  territories  or  from  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  poor  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law.  The  President  of  the  United  States  presented  in 
apt  phrases  this  other  Southern  nightmare  when  he  declared 
that  in  the  slave-holding  states 

a  sense  of  security  no  longer  exists  around  the  family  altar. 
This  feeling  of  peace  at  home  has  given  place  to  apprehensions 
of  servile  insurrection.  Many  a  matron  throughout  the  South 
retires  at  night  in  dread  of  what  may  befall  herself  and  her 
children  before  the  morning.  Should  this  apprehension  of 
domestic  danger,  whether  real  or  imaginary,  extend  and  in- 
tensify itself,  until  it  shall  pervade  the  masses  of  the  Southern 
people,  then  disunion  will  be  inevitable.  Self-preservation  is 
the  first  law  of  nature  and  has  been  implanted  in  the  heart  of 
man,  by  his  Creator,  for  the  wisest  purposes,  and  no  political 
Union,  however  fraught  with  blessings  and  benefits  in  all 
other  respects,  can  long  continue  if  the  necessary  consequence 
be  to  render  the  homes  and  the  firesides  of  nearly  half  the 
parties  to  it  habitually  and  hopelessly  insecure.^ 

Of  the  78,000  whites  in  Florida  at  the  time  about  25,000 
(men,  women  and  children)  constituted  the  slave-holding 
class,  namely,  families  whose  members  actually  owned  one 
or  more  negroes.  The  census  denominated  1,175  whites  in 
Florida  "  planters  ".     There  were  then  within  the  state 

»  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  ii,  v.  8,  pp.  662-3. 

*  Moore,  Works  of  Buchanan,  v.  xi,  pp.  7-8,  Mess.  Dec.  3,  i860. 


SECESSION 


53 


1,123  ^a-ims  of  100  acres  or  more,  and  1,157  slave-holders 
who  owned  15  or  more  slaves.  These  figures  suggest  a 
certain  correlation  of  farms,  slave-holders,  and  "  planters". 
250  of  the  slave-holders  owned  50  or  more  slaves  and  288 
farms  or  "  plantations  "  consisted  of  500  or  more  acres 
each.  Forty-seven  planters  owned  from  100  to  300  slaves 
and  yy  plantations  exceeded  1,000  acres  in  extent.  3,995 
slaveholders,  of  a  total  of  5,152,  owned  less  than  15  negroes 
each.  4,676  farms  contained  less  than  100  acres  each.  The 
segregation  of  slaves,  slave-holders,  and  estimated  wealth 
is  worthy  of  some  notice.  In  the  seven  great  planting  coun- 
ties of  Alachua,  Marion,  Madison,  Jefferson,  Leon,  Gads- 
den and  Jackson  the  valuation  of  property — real  and  per- 
sonal— was  $48,000,000.  The  total  valuation  of  all  prop- 
erty in  the  state  was  but  $73,101,500.  In  these  seven  plant- 
ing counties  were  about  40,000  of  the  61,000  slave  popula- 
tion and  about  26,000  of  the  78,000  whites.^  These  coun- 
ties contained  the  majority  of  Florida's  wealthier  and  more 
enlightened  citizens,  hence  a  majority  of  those  who  led  in 
the  crisis  of  1861. 

The  last  two  months  of  the  year  i860  witnessed  an 
ominous  development  in  public  opinion.  The  organization 
of  those  volunteer  companies  called  "  Minute  Men  "  con- 
tinued. On  November  19th  such  a  company  tendered  its 
services  to  the  governor.  Governor  Perry  accepted  it  "as 
the  first  company  in  defense  of  the  State."  ^  In  Pensacola, 
a  company  of  "  Minute  Men  "  reported  among  its  members 
United  States  Senator  Mallory  and  Colonel  William  Chase, 
a  retired  army  officer,  both  active  in  furthering  secession. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  towns  were  agitated  and  excited. 
In  Pensacola,  for  instance,  frequent  meetings  were  held  by 
the  town  council  to  discuss  the  situation.     Radical  speeches 

*  Census,  i860.  '  E.  Floridian,  D€c.  12,  i860. 


54 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


were  made  before  mass  meetings  on  the  street.  "  Men, 
women  and  children  seem  to  have  gone  mad,"  stated  a  naval 
officer,  stationed  in  Pensacola  harbor  at  this  time.  "Every- 
body was  talking  secession — officers  at  the  mess  table  and 
at  home,  where  the  women  always  take  a  strong  hand ;  and 
the  workmen  during  their  mid-day  meal."  ^  United  States 
sailors  and  marines,  ashore  from  the  Federal  warships 
lying  in  the  harbor,  were  drawn  into  street  fights  by  the 
more  violent  advocates  of  state  rights.  To  express  in 
public  pronounced  Union  sentiments  meant  probably  a  fight 
unless  you  quickly  ate  your  words.  The  excitement  grew 
day  by  day.^ 

"  I  traveled  by  way  of  Montgomery  to  Pensacola,"  wrote 
Captain  Meigs,  an  army  engineer. 

There  I  took  the  mail  steamer  and  touching  off  Apalachicola, 
St.  Marks,  Cedar  Keys,  and  Tampa,  I  reached  Key  West  on 
the  7th  [November]  and  this  place  on  the  next  day.  I  found 
on  some  parts  of  the  route  a  feeling  of  strong  hostility  to  the 
Union.  I  heard  from  men  reputed  to  be  sober,  careful,  con- 
scientious citizens,  expressions  of  regret  for  the  danger  of  the 
Union,  but  of  belief  that  its  preservation  for  many  years  was 
impossible,  and  a  feeling  that  if  a  struggle  was  to  come,  they 
would  prefer  it  coming  now.^ 

The  Marianna  Patriot  of  Jackson  County  expressed  pro- 
nounced secession  sentiments  in  November.  Another 
Florida  journal  reported  "  Secession  flags  everywhere." 
In  Marion  County  a  meeting  was  held  at  the  county  court- 
house, where  an  assemblage  of  citizens  voted  for  secession, 
while  in  the  public  square  of  the  village  floated  a  flag  with 

*  Erben,  Personal  Recollections  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  p.  215. 

'  See  testimony  of  witnesses  in  the  Armstrong  investigation,  H.  Rpts., 
36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  87. 

*  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  i,  p.  4. 


SECESSION  55 

a  single  blue  star  and  the  inscription,  "  Let  Us  Alone."  The 
Quincy  Republican  of  Gadsden  County  reported  a  seces- 
sion flag  flying  in  the  town  of  Quincy  with  the  inscription, 
"  Secession,  Florida,  Sovereignty,  Independence  ".  All  of 
this  was  evident  in  November/ 

In  some  places  Lincoln  was  burned  in  effigy.^  Colonel 
Chase  of  Pensacola,  originally  from  Massachusetts,  in  an 
open  letter  advocated  "  immediate  secession  "  by  the  com- 
ing convention  of  the  people.^  United  States  Senator  Yulee 
in  Washington,  on  hearing  that  a  convention  of  the  people 
had  been  called,  wrote  to  the  legislature  that  "  he  would 
promptly  and  joyfully  return  home  if  Florida  seceded." 
In  St.  Augustine  the  "  secession  flag  "  was  raised  and  "blue 
cockades  "  were  worn  by  many  of  the  citizens.*  In  Fer- 
nandina  two  military  companies  were  organized,  equipping 
themselves  and  announcing  that  their  uniforms  were  of 
"  Southern  manufacture  ".'*  At  Mayport  Mills,  below  Jack- 
sonville, several  Northern  fishermen  were  forced  to  leave 
the  locality,  because  they  had  expressed  opinions  which  con- 
flicted too  much  with  the  pro-slavery  sentiments  of  the 
natives.  **  On  December  12th,  affected  by  the  crisis,  the 
Bank  of  St.  Johns  in  St.  Augustine  suspended  specie  pay- 
ment "in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  the  people".^  "  At 
Tallahassee,"  wrote  Mrs.  Long,  "  I  find  the  atmosphere 
redolent  with  secession.  Gallants  wear  the  palmetto  cock- 
ade. Matrons  are  ready  to  buckle  the  sword  for  their  hus- 
bands, and  I  wonder  if  they  will  do  it  so  readily  for  their 
sons.     Everything  is  promised  everybody — the  merchant 

*  E.  Floridian,  Dec.  5,  i860. 

*  Ibid.,  Dec.  5,  19,  i860. 

*  Letter  in  N.  Y.  Times,  Dec.  15,  i860. 

*  E.  Floridian,  Dec.  19,  i86o.  *  Ibid. 

*  Ibid.,  Dec.  19,  i860.  f  Ibid.,  Dec.  12,  i860. 


56 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


to  be  rid  of  paying  his  Northern  debts;  the  slave-trade,  re- 
vived for  the  planters ;  ^  the  ambitious,  a  new  and  nearer 
field  of  promotion;  and  those  who  have  nothing  are  to  get 
something  in  the  general  scramble."  ^ 

"  I  believe  the  temper  of  the  South  is  excited — danger- 
ous," Captain  Meigs  had  written  General  Scott,  from  Key 
West,  a  few  weeks  before.^  Such  incidents  and  expres- 
sions as  the  foregoing  indicate  a  public  consciousness  out  of 
which  obviously  a  political  revolution  might  come.  The 
definite  beginning  of  such  a  revolution  was  made  by  the 
convention  which  assembled  on  January  3rd  in  Tallahassee, 
at  the  call  of  the  legislature.  On  the  day  named  sixty  dele- 
gates presented  their  credentials.  Among  them  were  some 
of  the  best  known,  most  respected  and  wealthiest  men  of 
the  state.*  Little  record  remains  of  the  manner  in  which 
they  were  elected — whether  fair  or  foul.  Their  good  char- 
acters support  the  assumption  that  fairness  preponderated. 
They  composed  a  body  which  was  to  take  unto  itself  sov- 
ereign powers,  repudiate  the  Union,  and  change  in  theory  at 
least,  the  very  nature  of  the  state  represented. 

The  temporary  chairman,  Mr.  Pelot,  in  his  opening  ad- 
dress, declared  that  Northern  fanaticism  had  endangered 
Southern  liberties  and  institutions;  that  the  election  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  "a  wily  abolitionist",  destroyed  all  hope 
for  the  future.  "  We  must  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  in 
the  great  work  before  us,"  he  concluded,  "  and  may  the 

'  It  is  worth  while  noticing  the  revival  of  interest  in  Florida  at  tiiis 
time,  in  the  reopening  of  the  African  slave  trade.  In  Aug.,  i860,  2,020 
Africans  captured  from  "  Slavers "  were  in  the  hands  of  Federal 
authorities  at  Key  West.     See  E.  Floridian  for  June  7,  21,  Aug.  9,  i860. 

•  Long,  Florida  Breezes,  p.  282. 

3  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  i,  p.  4,  written  Nov.  10,  i860. 

*  See  Comments  by  N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  7,  1861 ;  also  Proceedings  of 
Conven.,  pp.  i,  2. 


SECESSION  57 

God  of  Mercy  and  Goodness  direct  us  in  our  deliberations 
that  we  may  arrive  at  the  best  means  to  accomplish  the  de- 
sired end."  ^ 

Amid  the  suppressed  hum  of  comment  which  followed 
the  applause  McQueen  Mcintosh,  the  Federal  judge  who 
had  recently  figured  in  suppressing  the  "  regulator  "  dis- 
turbances in  West  Florida,  arose. 

"  Mr.  Chairman,"  he  said,  "  it  is  but  seldom  that  men 
are  called  upon  to  discharge  the  grave  and  solemn  duties 
about  to  devolve  upon  us.  And  with  nations  as  with  men, 
there  is  a  Providence  which  fashions  their  destinies.  I 
therefore  move,  Sir,  that  the  Right  Reverend  Bishop  Rut- 
ledge  be  invited  to  a  seat  by  your  side  and  that  this  con- 
vention be  opened  with  prayer."  Bishop  Rutledge,  whose 
ancestors  had  helped  take  South  Carolina  out  of  the  British 
colonial  system,  prayed  that  "  the  Lord  would  enlighten, 
direct,  and  strengthen  them  ".  in  deciding  whether  Florida 
should  be  taken  out  of  the  Federal  system.^  Thus  with 
bitterness  toward  those  whom  they  had  considered  their 
enemies  in  the  North  and  a  solemn  appeal  for  the  help  of 
Almighty  God  in  dealing  with  the  situation,  the  members 
of  the  Florida  secession  convention  began  their  work  in 
true  Puritanic  spirit. 

All  delegates  elected  had  not  arrived  by  January  3rd. 
Four  western  counties  (Escambia,  Santa  Rosa,  Franklin 
and  Liberty)  and  one  eastern  county  (Clay)  were  not 
represented,  as  well  as  some  of  the  senatorial  districts. 
Representation  was  by  county  and  senatorial  district.  The 
convention  therefore  adjourned  for  two  days,  until  Satur- 
day, January  5th.  On  that  day  the  body  definitely  organ- 
ized itself  for  its  destructive  and  constructive  constitutional 
work.    John  C.  McGehee,  a  planter,  was  chosen  president. 

*  Proceedings  of  Conven.,  p.  3.  *  Ibid. ,  p.  4. 


58  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  president  of  the  convention  promptly  system- 
atized the  work  of  the  body  by  appointing  committees  of 
five  members  each  on  judiciary,  ordinance,  Federal  rela- 
tions, foreign  relations,  taxes  and  revenue,  militia  and  in- 
ternal police,  sea-coast  defenses,  public  lands,  etc.  Each 
committee  was  to  occupy  itself  with  some  phase  of  the  con- 
templated constitutional  change.^  The  appointment  of  these 
committees  before  the  convention  had  acted  on  the  question 
of  Federal  relations  was  an  obvious  index  of  what  the  body 
expected  to  do.  If  Florida  was  to  remain  in  the  Union, 
there  was  little  reason  for  thus  preparing  to  revise  at  that 
time  her  fundamental  law. 

The  convention  had  met  to  take  Florida  out  of  the  Union. 
Two  ways  of  accomplishing  this  were  proposed  on  the  sec- 
ond day  of  meeting.  Mr.  Parkhill,  a  prominent  planter  of 
Leon  County,  submitted  the  first  proposition.  He  would 
have  the  convention  take  immediate  action  on  secession  and 
then  submit  its  decision  to  the  votes  of  the  people.  He 
would  have  the  people  cast  their  votes  for  or  against  the 
convention's  decision  after  Georgia  and  Alabama  had  taken 
action  definitely  on  secession.  His  was  the  conservative 
plan,  whose  keynote  was  delay.  It  was  promptly  laid  on 
the  table  and  remained  there. 

Judge  McQueen  Mcintosh  of  Franklin  County,  proposed 
the  second  plan.  He  would  have  secession  proclaimed  as  a 
state  right,  Florida  proclaimed  justified  in  exercising  that 
right,  and  the  convention  proclaimed  competent  to  act  for 
the  state.  This  proclamation  method  was  simpler,  swifter, 
more  direct,  more  radical,  more  popular,  and  more  danger- 
ous than  the  other.  Mcintosh's  resolutions  were  ordered 
printed  and  further  consideration  was  postponed  until 
Monday.* 

*  Proceedings  of  Conven.,  p.  12. 
^  Ibid.,  pp.  12-13. 


SECESSION  59 

On  Monday,  January  7th,  the  question  of  secession,  the 
raison  d'etre  of  the  convention,  was  again  taken  up.  "Flor- 
ida is  very  impatient  to  be  the  second  State  in  the  banner 
of  the  South,"  recorded  a  critic  of  the  convention. 

The  Convention  which  was  called  merely  to  ratify  the  fore- 
gone conclusions  of  the  politicians  of  the  State  is  now  in  ses- 
sion, and  the  town  [Tallahassee]  is  full  of  bewildered  and  ex- 
cited people.  The  timid  are  silent  or  are  with  the  popular 
voice  in  the  noise  they  make,  and  would  change  with  them  to- 
morrow for  the  same  reason.  The  Convention  is  formed  of 
the  most  ultra  element  who  have  not  come  to  investigate,  rea- 
son or  determine,  but  with  a  fixed  purpose  to  vote  Florida  out 
of  the  Union.  .  .  .  The  halls  of  the  capital  are  crowded  day 
and  night.  Citizens — even  ladies — attend  the  councils  while 
the  wildest  excitement  prevails.^ 

Ere  the  vote  was  taken  in  Florida  on  secession  the  dele- 
gates were  addressed  by  commissioners  from  Alabama, 
South  Carolina,  and  Virginia.  These  gentlemen — E.  C. 
Bullock  of  Alabama,  S.  C.  Spratt  of  South  Carolina,  and 
Edmund  Ruffin  of  Virginia — had  been  introduced  to  the 
convention  by  Governor  Perry,^  who  had  recently  returned 
from  a  trip  into  South  Carolina  and  probably  into  Georgia. 
The  words  of  the  commissioners — advance  agents  of  the 
Confederacy — constituted  a  part  of  the  radical  appeal  from 
abroad.  They  came  on  the  wings  of  revolution.  They 
counselled  radical  action.  They  found  in  Tallahassee  a 
radical  body  to  counsel.  Advice  is  attended  with  interest 
when  we  are  like-minded  with  the  counsellors  and  are 
dubious  of  the  future. 

Mr.  Spratt,  of  South  Carolina,  read  the  secession  ordi- 

^  Long,  Florida  Breezes,  p.  303. 

2  Proceedings  of  Convert.,  p.  14.    Spratt  and  Bullock  did  most  of  the 
talking.     Virginia's  position  then  was  very  uncertain. 


6o  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

nance  of  his  state.  He  then  read  the  eloquent  address  of 
South  Carolina  on  the  "  Relations  of  the  Slave-holding- 
States  ".  He  concluded  with  a  speech  on  his  own  state's 
recent  action.^  South  Carolina  had  left  the  Union  on  De- 
cember 20th.  Commissioners  of  the  Republic  of  South 
Carolina  to  the  United  States  had  been  appointed  two  days 
after  her  secession.  Major  Anderson  had  withdrawn  to 
Fort  Sumter  the  Federal  troops  under  his  command.  South 
Carolina  had  prepared  to  resist  with  force  if  necessary  the 
landing  of  supplies  or  reinforcements  in  Sumter.  While 
Spratt  spoke  in  Florida,  the  Federal  steamer  "  Star  of  the 
West "  was  at  sea  bound  for  Fort  Sumter  with  supplies, 
and  South-Carolinians  were  preparing  to  open  fire  on  her 
when  she  should  come  within  range.  ^ 

The  South  Carolina  commissioner  was  discussing,  there- 
fore, not  vague  generalities  concerning  what  might  come 
to  pass.  He  spoke  of  changes  and  conditions  which  indi- 
cated abnormal  times.  The  entire  body  politic  was  af- 
fected. The  spirit  of  revolution  was  in  fact  already  un- 
chained. 

The  words  of  the  commissioners  vitalized  the  events  of 
the  hour  to  the  advantage  of  radicalism,  and  thereby  has- 
tened, maybe,  the  separation  of  Florida  from  the  Union. 
The  state  would  have  seceded  regardless  of  inter-state  com- 
missioners. On  the  day  that  Spratt  spoke,  Senator  Yulee 
wrote  from  Washington  that  he  and  his  colleague,  Mallory, 
had  unequivocally  joined  with  other  Southern  Senators  in 
declaring  that  "  the  Southern  States  should,  as  soon  as  may 
be,  secede."  ^    On  January  6th,  Mr.  Mallory  informed  the 

^  Proceedings  of  Convert.,  p.  15. 

•  See  accounts  in  Rhodes,  U.  S.,  v.  iii,  pp.  245-6 ;  Chadwick,  Causes 
of  Civil  War,  pp.  225-6. 

•  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  pp.  442-3.    The  letter  was  addressed  by 
Yulee  to  "  Finegan  or  Call." 


SECESSIOiV  6l 

Florida  convention  by  telegraph  of  this  secret  conclave  by- 
Southern  senators  in  which  he  and  Yulee  had  taken  part.^ 
Governor  Perry  of  Florida  had  already  appealed  to  the  gov- 
ernor of  Alabama  for  assistance  in  seizing  Federal  prop- 
erty ;  ^  and  Yulee  in  Washington  had  conspired  with  Robert 
Toombs  of  Georgia  to  the  same  end.^  Dissolution  of  politi- 
cal bonds  had  advanced  perceptibly  by  January  the  7th. 

The  convention  voted  on  that  day,  January  7th,  that  the 
"  people  of  the  State  "  possess  the  "  right "  to  sever  politi- 
cal connections  when  in  their  opinion  just  and  proper  cause 
exist;  it  concluded  that  "just  and  proper  cause"  did  exist 
and  that  Florida  should  exercise  the  right.*  In  taking  this 
step  the  convention  committed  itself  to  a  view  of  the  Union 
consistent  with  the  contemplated  separation.  Both  dele- 
gates from  Walton  County  in  West  Florida  voted  against 
the  resolution.  The  other  three  votes  in  opposition  came 
from  East  Florida — all  five  votes  coming  from  white  or 
almost  non-cotton-planting  counties. 

Immediately  after  the  passage  of  the  resolution  a  "  select 
committee  "of  thirteen  was  appointed  by  the  chair  to  pre- 
pare an  ordinance  of  secession.  The  committee  was  repre- 
sentative of  the  various  sections  of  the  state.  Two  days 
later,  January  9th,  it  reported  an  ordinance.  °  The  conven- 
tion went  into  session  as  committee  of  the  whole  for  a  con- 
sideration of  the  report.  The  proposed  measure  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  judiciary  committee  with  instructions  to  re- 
port in  an  hour.  The  judiciary  committee  promptly  brought 
in  the  revised  ordinance.'  In  the  desperate  efforts  to  amend 

1  Oif.  Reds.  Rebel!.,  s.  ii,  v.  8,  p.  833 ;  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  443. 
'  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  i,  p.  444.    This  seems  a  reasonable  assumption  from 
the  letter  of  Gov.  Moore  to  the  Alabama  Convention,  Jan.  8. 
'  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  i.,  p.  442.    Letter  of  Yulee,  Jan.  5. 
*  Proceedings  of  Conven.,  p.  18. 
^Ibid.,  p.  25.  «76jrf.,  p.  28. 


62  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

it  the  conservative  element  in  the  convention  showed  its 
strength  and  policy.^  Delay  by  Florida  until  more  powerful 
states  had  acted  underlay  the  various  projects  to  amend. 

Mr.  Ward,  of  Leon  County,  would  have  the  proposed  or- 
dinance of  secession  not  take  effect  till  the  convention  had 
been  advised  of  the  actions  of  Georgia  and  Alabama  on 
Federal  relations.  This  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  30  to  39.  Mr. 
Allison,  of  Gadsden,  would  have  the  ordinance  not  take 
effect  till  the  governor  was  informed  that  Georgia  and  Ala- 
bama had  gone  out  of  the  Union;  and  in  case  these  states 
did  not  go  out,  he  would  have  the  question  of  secession 
submitted  to  the  votes  of  the  people.  Lost  by  a  vote  of  27 
to  32.  Mr.  Ward  then  proposed  that  the  ordinance  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  votes  of  the  people.  Lost  by  a  vote  of  26  to 
41.  Mr.  Morton,  of  Santa  Rosa  County,  proposed  that  the 
convention  postpone  action  till  Alabama  had  signified  defi- 
nitely her  intention  of  quitting  the  Union.  Lost  by  a  vote 
of  28  to  40.  Mr.  Ward  then  proposed  that  further  action 
on  the  question  of  secession  be  postponed  till  January  i8th. 
Lost  by  a  vote  of  28  to  40. 

This  ended  opposition  to  the  passage  of  an  unqualified 
and  immediate  ordinance  of  secession.  The  votes  for  de- 
lay had  been  cast  mainly  by  representatives  of  the  white 
counties — particularly  the  western  counties  which  had  been 
strongly  Whig.  Escambia,  Walton  and  Jackson  Counties, 
for  instance,  supported  solidly  a  qualified  ordinance.  But 
opposition  was  not  confined  to  a  section.  Gadsden  and 
Wakulla  Counties  voted  for  delay.  Four  out  of  five  dele- 
gates from  Leon  County  did  likewise,  as  well  as  several 
members  from  East  and  Southern  Florida;  while  in  West 
Florida,  Washington,  Holmes,  and  Franklin  Counties, 
abutting  Escambia,  Walton  and  Jackson,  and  containing 

'  Proceedings  of  Conven.,  pp.  28-31. 


SECESSION  63 

almost  the  same  kind  of  population,  went  solidly  for  im- 
mediate secession. 

The  vote  therefore  in  the  secession  convention  failed  to 
disclose  sectionalism  within  the  state  or  division  between 
planter  and  poorer  white.  It  merely  divided  radical  Derno- 
crat  from  conservative  Democrat  and  Constitutional  Union- 
ist.  It  tended  to  show  that  Florida  East  of  the  Suwanee 
river  was  more  radical  than  Florida  west  6f  tha"t~stream. 
Seventy  of  the  seventy-seven  "  thousand-acre  or  more " 
plantations  Wei  e  west  erf  Lh^-dyer,  as  well  as  i6.s  of  the  21 1 
planters  c^erating  qcx)  to  1,000  acres.'^  The  largerprog- 
erty-holders  were  conservative  when  on  their  actions  hung 
theprobability  of  contest~witn  tne  i:^ederal  government. 

With  every  member  present  and  the  visitors'  galleries 
of  the  senate  chamber  crowded,  the  convention  proceeded 
to  business  on  Thursday,  January  loth.  Excitement  was 
high.  The  "  Star  of  the  West "  had  drawn  fire  in  Charles- 
ton harbor  at  dawn  the  day  before,  and  this  morning  Gov- 
ernor Perry  electrified  the  assembly  with  a  telegram  from 
Florida's  representatives  in  Washington.  "  Federal  troops 
are  said  to  be  moving  or  about  to  move  on  Pensacola 
forts,"  it  read.    "  Every  hour  is  important."  ^ 

For  two  hours  committees  submitted  reports  on  constitu- 
tional revision,  and  desultory  debate  went  on.  Most  of  the 
discussion  was  by  those  who  sought  to  delay  the  secession 
of  the  state.  They  obtained  a  respectful  and  unenthusiastic 
hearing.  At  last,  almost  at  mid-day,  the  question  of  the 
hour  was  laid  before  the  convention.  The  secretary  ner- 
vously raised  his  papers  from  the  table  and  the  people  bent 

Census,  i860. 
*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  444.    Message  of  Gov.  Perry  to  Mr. 
McGehee,  president  of  convention  Jan.  10.    The  message  had  been  sent 
the  day  before  from  Washington  and  was  signed  by  Mallory,  Yulee  and 
Hawkins  (congressmen). 


64  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

forward  in  silent  and  strained  attention  as  the  proposed  se- 
cession ordinance  was  read. 
It  ran  as  follows : 

We,  the  people  of  the  State  of  Florida  in  convention  assem- 
bled, do  solemnly  ordain,  publish,  and  declare  that  the  State  of 
Florida  hereby  withdraws  herself  from  the  Confederacy  of 
States  existing  under  the  name  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  and  from  the  existing  government  of  the  said  States ; 
and  that  all  political  connection  between  her  and  the  govern- 
ment of  said  states  ought  to  be  and  the  same  is  hereby  totally 
annulled,  and  the  said  Union  of  States  dissolved,  and  the 
State  of  Florida  hereby  declared  a  sovereign  and  independent 
nation;  and  that  all  ordinances  heretofore  adopted,  in  so  far 
as  they  create  or  recognize  the  said  Union,  are  rescinded,  and 
all  laws  and  parts  of  laws  in  force  in  this  State,  in  so  far  as 
they  recognize  or  consent  to  said  Union,  be  and  they  are 
hereby  repealed.^ 

The  vote  was  taken  and  stood  62  to  7  for  secession. 
Four  of  the  seven  votes  in  opposition  came  from  West 
.Xlsiiila.^  Both  Walton  County  delegatesvoted  with  the 
minority.  At  twenty-two  minutes  past  twelve  o'clock 
P.  M.,  January  loth,  the  president  declared  the  ordinance 
adopted.^  Applause  broke  forth  and  the  shouting  was 
taken  up  by  those  outside  the  hall.  The  die  had  been  cast. 
"  As  the  vote  was  taken,"  declared  Mrs.  Long,  "  the  ap- 
plause was  deafening.  Men  whooped  and  women  clapped 
their  hands.    Madame  M gave  way  to  tears."  * 

^  Proceedings  of  Conven.,  p.  31. 

*  Ihid.,  p.  31.  Those  who  voted  against  it  were  Baker  of  Jackson 
Co.,  McCaskill  and  Morrison  of  Walton  Co.,  Rutland  of  19th  Sena- 
torial District,  Gregory  of  Liberty  Co.,  Hendricks  of  Clay  Co.,  and 
Woodruff  of  Orange  Co. 

*  Proceedings  of  Conven.,  p.  31. 

*  Long,  Florida  Breezes,  p.  306. 


SECESSION  65 

Three  delegates  were  appointed  to  represent  Florida  in 
the  proposed  convention  of  representatives  from  those 
Southern  states  which  would  withdraw  from  the  Union. ^ 
Senator  Yulee,  in  a  recent  communication  to  a  member  of 
the  Florida  convention,  had  urged  the  immediate  import- 
ance of  a  Southern  confederacy.^  The  great  ordinance 
passed,  the  assembly  chamber  was  cleared  of  its  occupants 
and  the  doors  closed  for  the  day. 

Groups  formed  before  hotels,  bars  and  the  hospitable 
general  stores  to  discuss  the  momentous  political  develop- 
ments of  the  hour.  The  few  bar-rooms  did  a  flowing  holi- 
day business — for  optimism  was  running  high  and  the 
weather  was  cool.  When  night  came,  the  many  lights 
which  flashed  in  public  buildings  and  along  the  usually  quiet 
streets  indicated  the  continuation  of  celebration.  More 
than  500  lights  shone  in  the  "  Capital  Hotel  ".  Soon  scores 
of  rockets  and  roman  candles  blazed  and  ricocheted  above 
the  shadows  of  the  live-oaks.  Some  said  Florida  was  al- 
ready "  a  nation  ".  Certainly  there  was  evidence  of  the 
political  self-assurance  necessary  to  separate  national  life. 
The  state's  rural  citizenry  swung  out  in  the  flood  tide  of 
a  new  national  existence  with  no  cities,  no  factory  system, 
few  railroads,  sparse  population,  and  less  than  1,000  skilled 
laborers  within  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land.'' 

The  New  York  Times  declared  that  the  secession  of 
Florida  meant  the  wiping-out  of  old  debts,  that  the  South 

^  Proceedings  of  Conven.;  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Fla.,  v.  i,  p.  236.  The 
commissioners  were  Gen.  Morton,  Col.  Patton  Anderson  and  Col.  Jas. 
B.  Owens.  The  convention  also  created  a  special  council  of  four  to 
assist  the  Governor.  Perry  appointed  J.  C.  McGehee  (president  of 
convention),  Gen.  Morton,  Maj.  Jno.  Beard  and  Col.  Jos.  Finegan, 
members  of  this  Council. 

*  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  442. 

'  Census,  i860. 


66  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

was  in  control  of  "  the  railroad  class  who  want  secession 
for  financial  ends  "/  This  was  an  accusation  frequently 
brought  at  that  time  and  later  against  the  seceding  states.^ 
It  is  true  that  at  this  time  the  Florida  Railroad  owed  one 
firm  in  New  York  three  quarters  of  a  million  dollars.^ 
Heavy  stockholders  in  the  road  were  Floridians  active  in 
furthering  secession.  David  L.  Yulee,  United  States  Sen- 
ator, was  president  of  the  road,  and  a  prominent  figure  in 
the  secession  movement.  Florida  railways  were  then  built 
mostly  from  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  bonds  guaranteed 
by  the  Internal  Improvement  Fund  of  the  state.*  Since 
1850  more  than  $8,000,000  had  been  expended  for  the  con- 
struction of  railways  in  Florida.'*  Part  of  this  sum  was 
contributed  by  capitalists  in  the  North.  Did  secession  mean 
necessarily  the  wiping-out  of  honest  bonded  indebtedness? 
In  this  tragic  and  complex  crisis  in  the  South's  history  did 
the  selfish  and  sinister  designs  of  a  few  Southern  and 
Northern  capitalists  arouse  the  passionate  and  generally 
honest  prejudices  of  the  more  than  5,000,000  Americans 
who  promptly  answered  the  long  roll? 

A   torch-light   procession   headed   by   a   band   of    local 
musicians  paraded  the  streets  of  Tallahassee.     Before  the 

^  N.  Y.  Times,  Jan.  23,  1861. 

*  Lincoln  referred  to  this  aspect  of  the  situation  in  his  first  annual 
message  to  Congress,  Dec.  13,  1861.  "  There  are  no  courts  nor  officers 
to  whom  the  citizens  of  other  states  may  apply  for  the  enforcement  of 
their  lawful  claims  against  citizens  of  the  insurgent  states.  Some  of 
them  have  estimated  it  as  high  as  $200,000,000,  due  in  large  part  from 
insurgents,  in  open  rebellion,  to  lawful  citizens."  —  Complete  Works 
(Nicolay  &  Hay),  v.  i,  p.  99. 

»  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  38th  C,  2d  S.,  no.  18,  p.  83.    M.  O.  Roberts  of  N.  Y. 

*  Minutes  Trustees  Internal  Improvement  Fund,  Internal  Improve- 
ment Bonds  of  Fla.—a  pamphlet  (1858)  ;  Fla.  R.  R.  ist  Mort.  Bonds — 
a  pamphlet ;  Fla.  Hist.  Soc,  etc. 

*  Census,  i860. 


SECESSION  67 

Capital  Hotel  Governor-elect  Milton,  Editor  C.  E,  Dyke 
of  the  Floridian,  and  Mr.  Hilton,  who  by  Florida's  seces- 
sion had  lost  his  place  in  Congress,  addressed  the  crowd, 
which  roared  approval  to  the  leaders  speaking  there  be- 
neath the  flickering  light  of  fat  pine  torch  and  astral  oil 
lamp/ 

On  the  following  afternoon,  January  nth,  at  a  few 
minutes  past  one  o'clock,  the  members  of  the  convention 
proceeded  in  a  body  to  the  east  portico  of  the  capital  build- 
ing. There  in  the  presence  of  the  legislature,  the  supreme 
court.  Governor-elect  Milton,  cabinet  members,  and  a 
throng  of  spectators,  they  signed  the  ordinance  of  seces- 
sion. The  signing  was  by  counties.  Sixty-four  of  the 
sixty-nine  delegates  signed.^ 

The  secretary  of  state,  Mr.  Villepigue,  affixed  the  great 
seal  of  the  state  to  the  document,  and,  turning,  faced  the 
crowd  assembled.  In  a  "  clear  and  distinct  voice  "  he  pro- 
claimed Florida  "  an  independent  nation  ".  A  second  later 
fifteen  cannon  were  fired  in  salute  of  the  new  state  and 
shouting  broke  forth.^ 

Governor-elect  Milton  then  stepped  forward  and  pre- 
sented to  the  members  of  the  convention  a  white  silk  flag 
bearing  three  blue  stars.  It  was  the  handiwork  of  some  pa- 
triotic women  of  East  Florida.  The  three  stars  were  for 
Florida,  Mississippi,  and  South  Carolina,  the  states  which 
had  quit  the  Union.  A  speech  by  Mr.  Butler  King,  commis- 
sioner of  Georgia  to  the  Florida  legislature,  concluded  the 
process  of  ratification. 

"  Thus  terminates,"  stated  a  Florida  journal,  "  the  most 

^  N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  25,  1861.    Tallahassee  letter. 
'  Proceedings  of  Conven.,  p.  40. 

2  JV.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  13,  1861 ;  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Fla.,  v.  i,  pp.  235-6; 
Brevard  and  Bennett,  Hist,  of  Fla.,  p.  157. 


68  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

glorious  event  in  the  history  of  Florida — her  secession  (we 
trust  forever)  from  Yankeedom  and  Yankees  "/ 

The  people  of  Florida  were  moving  with  the  Southern 
current.  They  had  reached  the  brink  of  a  gulf  whose 
depths  they  had  no  means  of  sounding.  As  votaries  of 
some  ancient  creed  once  with  emotion  greeted  the  first  glow 
of  a  new  day,  so  over  the  South  thousands,  swept  by  en- 
thusiasm, sang  beneath  the  morning  star  of  a  new  national 
life.  And  like  men  borne  upon  the  bosom  of  some  vast 
flood,  majestically  they  moved  on  their  way  impelled  by 
political  currents  which  like  the  streams  of  the  sea  came 
somewhere  from  the  depths.  Hozannahs  and  hoarse  shout- 
ing for  the  future — not  a  requiem  for  the  stricken  Re- 
public— give  to  him  who  cares  to  examine  our  recent  past 
the  spirit  which  ushered  in  the  cataclysm.  The  strength 
of  Southern  nationalism  was  to  be  tested  in  the  fearful 
crucible  of  war.  For  the  mass  of  Southerners — whether 
constitutional  secessionists  or  revolutionists — there  was  no 
turning  back  after  secession.  "  The  moving  finger  writes 
and  having  writ,  moves  on."  They  heard  the  enthusiastic 
shouting — in  which  they  joined,  or  were  gravely  silent,  as 
the  case  might  be — and  then  they  followed  to  the  last 
bloody  whirlpool  of  defeat,  destruction,  and  death  with  a 
fortitude  strong  and  admirable,  the  fortunes  of  the  Con- 
federacy, that  new  state  which  like  some  creation  of  the 
mists  arose  from  out  the  maelstrom  of  secession. 

*N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  13,  1861,  quotation. 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  Seizure  of  Federal  Property  and  the  Raising  of 

Troops 

The  seizure  of  Federal  fortifications  and  supplies  by 
order  of  Florida's  governor  began  before  the  formal  con- 
summation of  secession  by  the  convention  at  Tallahassee. 
In  December,  i860,  Senator  Yulee  wrote  from  Washing- 
ton to  Joseph  Finegan  in  Florida  suggesting  that  the  state 
should  prepare  to  seize  the  Pensacola  forts  and  navy-yard. 
Possession  of  the  yard  "  would  give  a  good  supply  of  ord- 
nance and  make  the  occupation  of  the  forts  easier  ",  stated 
Yulee.  He  and  Senator  Mallory  jointly  requested  of  the 
war  department  on  January  2nd  a  statement  of  munitions 
and  equipment  in  the  Federal  forts  and  arsenals  of  Flor- 
ida.^ Secretary  Holt  refused  them  the  information,*  but 
Mallory  a  short  time  later  transmitted  to  secession  leaders 
in  Pensacola  information  concerning  the  value  of  supplies 
in  the  Pensacola  navy-yard." 

It  is  not  unreasonble  to  assume  that  both  Florida  sen- 
ators were  in  intimate  communication  with  Governor  Perry, 
Joseph  Finegan,  Wilkinson  Call,  William  Chase,  and  other 
state  leaders  who  favored  and  expected  a  speedy  secession.* 

^  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  349;  letter  of  Jan,  2,  1861.  Yulee 
irequested,  on  Dec,  21,  i860,  of  the  War  Dept.  a  "  statement  of  the 
officers  of  the  U.  S.  who  were  appt.  from  Fla.,  their  rank  and  pay." 
He  obtained  his  information,  see  p.  348. 

'  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  I,  p.  351 ;  letter  of  Jan.  9. 

'  Ibid,,  s.  i,  V,  52,  pt.  2,  p.  8, 

*  Ibid.,  s,  i,  V,  I,  pp.  349,  444-5.  etc. 

69 


70  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

"  I  did  not  advise  or  stimulate  secession  of  the  State," 
wrote  Mr.  Yulee  four  years  later ;  ^  yet  he  declared  in  a 
letter  to  Finegan,  January  5th,  1861,  that 

the  immediately  important  thing  to  be  done  is  the  occupation 
of  the  forts  and  arsenals  in  Florida.  The  naval  station  and 
forts  at  Pensacola  are  iirst  in  consequence.  For  this  a  force 
is  necessary.  I  have  conversed  with  Mr.  Toombs  upon  the 
subject.  He  will  start  this  week  for  Georgia  and  says  if  the 
convention  of  sovereignty  will  ask  Governor  Brown  of 
Georgia  for  a  force  he  will  immediately  send  a  sufficient  force.^ 

Early  in  January  Governor  Perry  appealed  to  Governor 
Moore  of  Alabama  for  aid  in  seizing  and  holding  Federal 
fortifications  in  West  Florida  ^ — at  that  time  almost  with- 
out garrisons.*  Before  the  end  of  December,  i860,  radical 
state  leaders  at  home  and  in  Washington  were  undoubtedly 
deeply  involved  in  plans  to  paralyze  and  despoil  the  Fed- 
eral government  if  Florida  should  leave  the  Union.' 

In  November,  i860,  Captain  Meigs  of  the  United  States 
army  concluded  that  the  government's  control  of  its  Florida 
forts  was  destined  soon  to  be  disputed.  He  expressed  his 
views  very  plainly  to  General  Scott.  "  There  is  danger,"  he 
wrote,  "  that  a  few  ardent,  desperate  men,  seeing  the  great 
fortifications  of  Pensacola,  of  Key  West,  and  of  this  harbor 
[Tortugas] — the  Key  of  the  Gulf — unoccupied  by  troops, 
may  emulate  the  fame  of  Ethan  Allen  and  by  a  much  less 
dangerous  blow  secure  for  themselves  distinction  with  their 
party  by  seizing  some  of  these  undefended  posts.     The  en- 

1  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  ii,  v.  8,  pp.  668-670. 

2  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  I,  p.  442. 

*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  I,  p.  444. 

♦  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2d  S.,  no.  85,  pp.  26-27. 

'In  this  connection  see  the  telegrams  of  Yulee  and  Soutter,  Jan.  12, 
Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  6. 


THE  SEIZURE  OF  FEDERAL  PROPERTY  71 

terprise  is  so  safe  and  easy  that  leaders  and  men  are  to  be 
found."  ' 

Captain  Brannan,  commanding  the  Federal  garrison  at 
Key  West,  informed  the  war  department  on  December 
nth  that 

the  present  condition  of  affairs  in  this  State  indicates  very 
clearly  that  Florida  by  the  act  of  her  people  will  secede  from 
the  Federal  Government.  I  have  reliable  information  that  as 
soon  as  the  act  is  committed  an  attempt  will  be  made  to  seize 
upon  Fort  Taylor.  I  therefore  request  instructions  what  I 
am  to  do — endeavor  at  all  hazards  to  prevent  Fort  Taylor 
being  taken,  or  allow  the  state  authorities  to  have  possession 
without  any  resistance  on  the  part  of  my  command?  These 
instructions  are  absolutely  necessary  now  as  it  may  be  too  late 
after  the  State  secedes.^ 

He  received  no  instructions.  The  national  administration, 
though  warned  of  danger,  took  no  steps  to  better  protect 
Federal  property  in  Florida  until  too  late.^ 

Without  waiting  for  aid  from  abroad  the  governor  pro- 
ceeded quietly  and  swiftly  to  execute  his  designs  of  usur- 
pation. "  I  hereby  authorize  you,"  he  informed  a  Colonel 
Duryea  early  in  January,  "  to  raise  a  company  of  picked 
men  and  proceed  to  the  Apalachicola  river  and  seize  and 
possess  the  arsenals,  arms,  ammunition,  etc."     The  order 

1  Oif.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  i,  p.  4. 

2  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  I,  pp.  342-343- 

'  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  on  Jan.  2,  i860,  a  year  before  the 
secession  crisis,  President  Buchanan  had  requested  of  the  war  dept.  a 
"  statement "  of  the  troops  on  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts  "  available 
for  the  defense  of  the  public  property." — See  Works  of  Buchanan, 
V.  X,  p.  372.  Mr.  Buchanan  declares  in  his  "Administration  on  the 
Eve  of  Rebellion"  (pp.  88-91),  that  there  were  not  enough  troops 
available  to  adequately  garrison  the  forts :  "  Five  companies  only,  400 
men,  to  garrison  nine  fortifications  scattered  over  six  highly  excited 
Southern  States."  He  lays  the  blame  for  this  condition  of  affairs  on 
Gen.  Scott  and  Congress. 


72  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

continued :  "  You  are  requested  to  act  with  great  secrecy 
and  discretion."  ^  Another  order  of  similar  purport  was 
issued  to  an  aide  regarding  the  occupation  of  Fort  Marion 
at  St.  Augustine.^ 

On  the  morning  of  January  5th  Ordnance  Sergeant 
Powell  of  the  Federal  arsenal  at  Chattahoochee  notified  the 
war  department  that  soon  after  daybreak  the  arsenal  had 
been  taken  possession  of  by.  state  troops.^  The  Quincy 
Guards — a  company  of  local  militia — led  by  Colonel  Duryea 
risked  this  revolutionary  step,*  for  Florida  was  still  nomi- 
nally in  the  Union. 

The  sergeant  in  charge  at  Chattahoochee  had  been 
ordered  to  surrender.  "I  refused  giving  up  the  keys,"  stated 
Powell,  "  but  the  Governor  telegraphed  to  the  commanding 
officer  to  insist  on  the  delivery  of  the  same  and  I  was  com- 
pelled to  give  them  up."  ^  The  work  thus  passed  without 
violence  into  the  hands  of  the  state.  It  contained  500,000 
rounds  of  musket  cartridges,  300,000  rounds  of  rifle  cart- 
ridges, and  50,000  pounds  of  gunpowder.®  "  If  I  had  had 
a  force  equal  or  even  one-half  the  strength  of  yours," 
Powell  is  reported  to  have  said  to  Duryea,  "  I'll  be  damned 
if  you  would  have  ever  entered  that  gate.  You  see  I  have 
but  three  men."  "^ 

1  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  91,  p.  93. 

'  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  333 ;  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no. 
91.  p.  88. 

'  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  91,  p.  88.  There  is  a  conflict  of  state- 
ment about  the  name  of  the  militia  commander  at  Apalachicola.  One 
account  gives  it  as  Dunn ;  see  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  332. 

*N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  14,  1861 ;  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  pp.  332-3. 

**  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  91,  p.  92. 

*Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  pp.  332-333. 

*  Quoted  in  N.  Y.  World  from  So.  Confed.,  Jan.  25,  1861.  Ex.  Docs., 
36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  85,  states  that  the  arsenal's  garrison  was  then 
only  4. 


THE  SEIZURE  OF  FEDERAL  PROPERTY  73 

At  St.  Augustine  a  company  of  volunteers  marched  to 
Fort  Marion  on  January  7th  and  demanded  possession.  An 
aide-de-camp  of  Governor  Perry  showed  written  instruc- 
tions from  his  chief  to  seize  the  work.^  Without  delay  or 
controversy  the  dilapidated  and  almost  empty  fortification 
was  surrendered  by  the  single  man  constituting  its  garrison. 
"  Upon  reflection  I  decided  that  the  only  alternative  for 
me  was  to  deliver  the  keys  under  protest,"  ^  stated  the  gar- 
rison. "  One  thing  is  certain,"  he  added  with  evident  re- 
lief, "  with  the  exception  of  the  guns  composing  the  water 
battery  the  property  seized  is  of  no  great  value  "  ' — which 
was  partly  true. 

Unfinished  and  deserted  Fort  Clinch,  protecting  (on 
paper)  Femandina  harbor,  was  quietly  occupied  by  state 
troops  a  day  or  two  after  the  Fort  Marion  episode.* 

Captain  Brannan  at  Key  West,  on  hearing  of  the  passage 
of  the  secession  ordinance  at  Tallahassee,  transferred  his 
entire  force  of  forty-four  men  from  the  barracks  to  the 
interior  of  Fort  Taylor.^  The  Southern  sympathizers  on 
the  island  were  turbulent  and  threatened  to  be  aggressive,® 
although  they  never  made  a  determined  attempt  to  expel 
the  Federal  garrison.  In  moving  to  Fort  Taylor,  Captain 
Brannan  acted  without  instructions  from  Washington.^ 

» H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  91,  p.  88. 

'  Ibid.,  no.  91,  p.  94. 

»  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  333;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  25,  1861. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  i.  pp.  367-68. 

*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  I,  pp.  343-345- 

*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  I,  pp.  343-345.  360,  374-7.  41 1.  426.  N.  Y.  Herald,  May 
24,  1861 ;  June  6,  1861— Key  West  Letters.  N.  Y.  Times,  Feb.  28,  1862 
— Key  West  Letters. 

'  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  i,  pp.  342,  344.  The  war  depL,  on  Jan.  4, 
issued  an  order  to  Brannan  to  transfer  his  company  to  Ft.  Taylor. 
The  order  did  not  reach  its  destination  till  Jan.  26th,  after  Brannan 
had  shifted  his  force. 


74  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

On  Pensacola  bay  the  course  of  events  indicating  the  dis- 
integration of  Federal  authority  proved  more  involved. 
Lieutenant  Adam  Slemmer  of  the  First  Artillery  was  in 
command  at  Fort  Barrancas — one  of  the  three  works  flank- 
ing the  mouth  of  the  bay  and  at  the  time  the  only  one  with  a 
garrison.  Slemmer's  position  in  Florida  during  the  first 
three  months  of  1861  was  not  unlike  that  of  Major  Ander- 
son in  South  Carolina.  Anderson  withdrew  to  Fort  Sumter 
on  December  26th;  Slemmer,  to  Fort  Pickens,  January 
loth.^  Both  men  were  confronted  by  much  the  same  prob- 
lems. Both  went  through  the  strain  of  awaiting  instruc- 
tions, supplies,  and  reinforcements  which  came  not  at  all  or 
slowly.  Both  were  forced  to  prepare  for  extensive  armed 
strife  with  fellow  Americans  of  high  position  representing 
hostile  governments.  And  therefore  upon  both  was  thrust 
by  accident  part  of  the  responsibility  of  inaugurating  a  pro- 
gram of  coercion  which  might  vitally  affect  the  fortunes  of 
the  Union. 

Slemmer  was  a  man  of  nerve  and  coolness.  In  appear- 
ance he  has  been  described  as  "  small  and  insignificant  ".^ 
He  proved  to  have  the  courage  to  act  boldly  and  decisively 
and  the  mental  balance  (or  good  fortune)  to  follow  a  suc- 
cessful course  during  a  period  of  frightful  confusion  and 
uncertainty.  Captain  Armstrong  of  the  navy-yard,  with 
whom  Slemmer  had  failed  to  agree,  referred  to  him  after- 
wards as  "  a  gallant  and  trusty  officer  ".' 

Rumors  were  abroad  early  in  January  that  citizens  of 
Florida  and  Alabama  intended  seizing  Federal  property  on 
Pensacola  bay."*  Judged  in  the  light  of  what  had  hap- 
pened in  Florida  and  elsewhere  these  rumors  seemed  se- 

^Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  335;  Rhodes,  v.  3,  pp.  216-17. 

2  A^.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  23,  1861. 

»//.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  87,  p.  66. 

*  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i.  v.  i,  p.  333. 


THE  SEIZURE  OF  FEDERAL  PROPERTY 


75 


rious.  When  on  the  morning  of  January  7th  news  came  that 
the  forts  on  Mobile  bay  had  been  occupied  by  Alabama 
troops,  and  the  Chattahoochee  arsenal  by  Florida  troops/ 
Lieutenant  Slemmer  at  once  conferred  with  Captain  Arm- 
strong, commanding  at  the  Pensacola  navy-yard,  about  the 
necessity  of  immediate  defensive  measures.^  The  captain,  in 
absence  of  orders  from  Washington,  refused  to  co-operate 
with  Slemmer.  Neither  the  characters  nor  the  policies  of 
the  two  men  were  alike^and  in  addition,  they  belonged  to 
different  branches  of  the  public  service.  Slemmer  was  posi- 
tive, self-assured,  and  fully  decided  to  prevent  at  all  hazards 
the  seizure  of  United  States  property  in  his  care.  Arm- 
strong was  temporizing,  cautious,  and  in  this  crisis  unde- 
cided, fearful  of  provoking  bloodshed,  and  inclined  to  take 
no  risks  by  personal  initiative.^ 

Slemmer  wished  to  destroy  the  navy-yard  and  Fort  Bar- 
rancas and  to  concentrate  all  force,  naval  and  military,  at 
Fort  Pickens.  Such  would  have  been  a  very  radical  and 
politically  portentous  move  in  January,  1861.  Some  of  the 
officers  on  board  the  Federal  men-of-war  lying  in  the  har- 
bor agreed  with  Slemmer.  Others,  on  the  ships  and  ashore, 
held  totally  different  views — particularly  the  aides  of  Cap- 
tain Armstrong.*  The  national  government  failed  to  keep 
up  with  and  control  the  situation  in  West  Florida.  No 
harmonious  or  consistent  policy  for  the  Union  was  fol- 
lowed on  Pensacola  bay. 

^  Fort  Morgan  was  seized  by  Alabama  militia  on  Jan.  4th ;  Chatta- 
hoochee Arsenal  (Fla.),  Jan.  sth.  See  Fleming,  Civil  War  and  Recon- 
struction in  Alabama,  for  reference  to  the  situation  in  that  state. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  334;  Erben,  Hy.,  Personal  Recollec- 
tions of  the  Rebellion,  pp.  213-222. 

'  See  Scharf,  Confed.  States  Navy,  pp.  602-603,  for  a  letter  of  Lieut 
Renshaw  of  Pensacola  navy-yard,  pub.  in  AT.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  29,  1861, 
discussing  the  situation  in  Florida. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  and  S.,  no.  87,  passim. 


76  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Orders  from  Washington  were  "  asked  for  but  most 
likely  they  never  got  out  of  the  state  "/  At  all  events,  no 
replies  were  received  until  the  navy-yard  commandant  got 
the  ridiculous  order  to  keep  the  "  Department "  advised  of 
what  was  going  on  and  to  be  mgilant  in  protecting  public 
property. 

The  crisis  had  stunned  Armstrong.  He  seemed  unable  to 
grasp  the  obvious  character  of  the  situation  before  him.  The 
younger  officers  about  him  with  whom  he  was  accustomed 
to  confer  were  bitterly  divided  in  sentiment  and  gave  dia- 
metrically conflicting  advice.^  His  most  intimate  advisors 
and  friends  among  his  subordinates  were  Southern  sym- 
pathizers, and  at  that  time  some  of  them  were  playing 
double  parts  in  their  efforts  to  have  the  yard  pass  without 
bloodshed  into  the  possession  of  the  state.  "  There  were 
enemies  in  his  own  household,"  affirmed  a  friend — "  none 
that  he  could  rely  upon  but  the  25  or  30  muskets  that  he  had 
in  his  marine  guard."  ® 

Lieutenant  Erben  of  the  store-ship  Supply  visited  the  cap- 
tain's quarters  late  in  the  night  of  the  9th  and  strongly  ad- 
vised the  destruction  at  once  of  all  property  in  the  navy- 
yard  to  prevent  its  seizure  by  state  militia.  Armstrong 
seemed  "  completely  dazed  ".  He  read  to  Erben  his  last 
orders  from  Washington, — "to  be  vigilant  in  protecting 
government  property  ".    "  Now  you  ask  me  to  destroy  it," 

'  Erben,  Hy.,  Personal  Recollections  of  the  Rebellion.  See  letter  of 
Senator  Yulee  (in  Washington)  to  Chase  (in  Pensacola),  which  stated 
that  it  was  "  charged  that  the  correspondence  of  the  Government 
through  the  mail  has  been  interfered  with  on  the  part  of  State  authori- 
ties. Let  the  post-master  send  a  dispatch." — Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v. 
52,  pt.  2,  pp.  8,  14.    Also  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  87,  p.  55. 

*  Erben,  op.  cit.,  passim.  Oilman,  J.  H.,  in  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the 
Civil  War,  v.  I,  p.  27. 

« H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2iid  S.,  no.  87,  pp.  54-55- 


THE  SEIZURE  OF  FEDERAL  PROPERTY 


77 


he  said  hopelessly  and  blankly.  "  I  did  all  I  could  to  get 
his  permission,"  stated  Erben, 

but  failed.  He  went  to  the  parlor  door,  called  his  orderly  and 
sent  him  for  Commander  Farrand.  Then  I  knew  it  was  all  up. 
There  was  some  violent  talk  after  Farrand  came.  He  asked 
the  Commodore  to  put  me  under  arrest  and  send  me  back  to 
the  ship;  said  that  I  was  crazy  and  had  been  disrespectful  to 
him.  The  Commodore  refused  to  do  this.  Then  Farrand 
rose,  seized  a  chair,  threw  it  at  my  head  and  left  the  room. 
I  remained  with  the  old  Commodore  a  while.  His  face  was 
buried  in  his  hands  and  he  was  crying  like  a  child.^ 

On  the  night  of  January  8th  the  sentries  at  Fort  Bar- 
rancas saw  dimly  a  body  of  men  moving  about  along  the 
outskirts  of  the  fortifications.^  The  corporal  of  the  guard 
gave  the  alarm  and  the  midnight  visitors  disappeared  in  the 
dense  shadows  of  the  scrub  and  brush  which  almost  sur- 
rounded the  work  at  a  short  distance.®  A  few  hours  before 
this  the  telegraph  office  at  Pensacola  had  been  seized  by 
state  troops  and  a  sentry  placed  on  guard.*  Soldiers  from 
Alabama  and  Mississippi  were  already  on  their  way  to 
West  Florida  or  preparing  to  leave  for  that  region.  **  It 
was  probably  knowledge  of  such  incidents  as  these  which 
finally  decided  Slemmer  to  abandon  Forts  McRee  and  Bar- 
rancas on  the  mainland  and  to  occupy  the  extremely  im- 
portant and  more  easily  defended  work,  Fort  Pickens,  situ- 
ated on  the  western  extremity  of  Santa  Rosa  Island  and 
completely  commanding  the  entrance  to  the  bay.     Had  the 

*  Erben,  Hy.,  op.  cit.,  p.  217. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  334. 

'  Gilman,  J.  H.,  op.  cit.,  v.  i,  p.  27.    Gilman  was  of  Slemmer's  force. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  87,  p.  55. 

*  Pub.  Miss.  Hist.  Soc,  v.  ix,  p.  17 ;  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2n(i  S.,  no.  87, 
P-  55;  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  444. 


78  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

secessionists  come  into  possession  of  Pickens  they  would 
have  controlled  the  best  protected  and  deepest  harbor  on 
the  Gulf  coast.  Pensacola  bay  would  have  been  of  great 
value  to  the  Confederacy. 

Slemmer  prepared  to  act  on  his  own  responsibility,  for 
no  orders  had  come  from  the  war  department.  Prepara- 
tions for  the  removal  of  his  troops  across  the  channel  were 
begun  on  January  9th.  The  night  mail  brought  an  order 
from  the  war  department  telling  him  "  to  do  his  utmost 
to  prevent  the  seizure  of  either  of  the  forts  in  Pensacola 
harbor  ".^  This  order  came  through  the  mail  "  in  a  small 
pink  envelope  addressed  in  a  woman's  hand  ".^ 

After  some  controversy  with  Captain  Armstrong  of  the 
navy-yard,  Lieutenant  Slemmer  obtained  from  him  an  addi- 
tion of  thirty  unarmed  seamen  to  his  little  command.'  On 
the  morning  of  January  loth  this  force  of  eighty-one  men 
quit  Barrancas  and  moved  across  the  channel  in  barges  to 
Pickens,  arriving  about  10  A.  M.*  The  ammunition  and 
supplies  at  Barrancas  were  carried  to  Pickens  or  destroyed. 
The  guns  there  bearing  upon  the  latter  fort  were  spiked.® 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  334 — from  Gen.  Scott;  Gilman,  J.  H., 
op.  cit.,  V.  I,  p.  27. 

*  Erben,  Hy.,  op.  cit.,  p.  214 ;  Gilman,  op.  cit.,  p.  27.  The  following 
explanation  was  given  a  few  weeks  later  by  L.  Q.  Washington,  a  Con- 
federate secret  service  man,  to  Secretary  of  War  Walker :  "  When  the 
first  step  of  occupying  Fort  Pickens  was  taken  by  the  U.  S.,  the  orders 
were  sent  down  by  a  special  messenger  and  also  by  a  telegram  in  cipher. 
The  telegram  left  here  in  the  night  [and]  was  stopped  at  Mobile  or 
Montgomery  by  our  friends.  I  gave  the  fact  early  next  day  to  the 
Florida  delegation,  but  the  special  messenger  went  through,  delivered 
his  message  to  Lieut.  Slemmer,  and  thus  we  lost  Ft.  Pickens." — Wash- 
ington to  Walker,  Mar.  20,  1861.  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  2, 
p.  27. 

»  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C.,  2nd  S.,  no.  87. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  335. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  335.  More  than  20,000  lbs.  of  powder  were  in  Barrancas  at 
the  time  and  19,000  in  McRee,  p.  349-50. 


THE  SEIZURE  OF  FEDERAL  PROPERTY 


79 


No  steps  were  taken  by  Slemmer  to  remove  or  destroy 
the  munitions  of  war  or  spike  the  guns  at  Fort  McRee. 
Lieutenant  Erben  of  the  store-ship  Supply  undertook  this 
work.  With  a  boat's  crew  he  pulled  down  to  McRee.  The 
sergeant  in  charge  was  away  and  his  wife,  the  sole  occu- 
pant of  a  fort  built  for  650,^  refused  to  give  up  the  keys. 
The  doors  were  promptly  battered  in;  the  guns  bearing  on 
Pickens,  spiked ;  and  several  thousand  pounds  of  powder  in 
barrels,  rolled  to  the  beach  and  thrown  into  the  sea.^ 

By  the  nth  of  January  the  transfer  to  Pickens  had  been 
completed  and  the  big  fort,  built  for  a  garrison  of  1,260, 
was  manned  by  81  men.^  It  was  in  delapidation.  Few 
guns  were  mounted.  The  gun-carriages  were  rickety  and 
antiquated.  Windows  and  port-holes  lacked  shutters. 
Weeds  were  growing  riotously  in  the  central  court.  The 
gloomy  chambers  were  musty  and  mouldy  from  long  dis- 
use.* 

Preparations  meanwhile  were  being  made  in  Pensacola  for 
the  occupation  of  the  navy-yard  by  force  if  necessary.  Col- 
onel William  Chase,  a  retired  army  officer  resident  in  Pen- 
sacola, assumed  general  command  or  direction  of  not  only 
the  local  militia,  but  of  the  Louisiana,  Alabama,  Mississippi 
and  Georgia  state  troops  that  began  to  pour  into  Pensa- 
cola after  January  loth.^  On  that  day  Senator  Mallory 
in  Washington  telegraphed  Chase :  "  All  here  look  to  you 

*  Ex.  Docs.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  72,  pp.  26-27. 

*  Erben,  Hy.,  op.  cit.,  pp.  215-16;  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  341. 

*  See  Scharf,  Confed.  States  Navy,  p.  600,  for  description  of  Pickens. 
Scharf  from  practical  experience  was  well  prepared  to  discuss  such  sub- 
jects. Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  337.  "  81  men,  including  officers," 
says  Slemmer. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  pp.  337,  379-80;  Gilman,  J.  H.,  op.  cit., 
V.  I,  p.  29. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  87,  p.  66 ;  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  52, 
pt.  2,  p.  II. 


8o  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

for  Pickens  and  McRee  ".^  At  the  navy-yard — seven  miles 
distant — Captain  Armstrong  had  pretty  clearly  determined 
to  offer  no  resistance  to  aggression.  "  There  was  of  course 
some  excitement  there,"  stated  the  chief  engineer,  a  Union 
man.  "  Some  would  say  the  troops  are  coming.  Some 
would  say  no  troops  are  coming.  The  naval  storekeeper, 
Gonzalez,  knew  all  about  it."  ^  Armstrong,  the  com- 
mander, evidently  did  not  know.  A  last  request  was  sent 
him  on  January  12th  by  Slemmer  praying  that  the  few 
marines  be  ordered  across  the  channel  into  Pickens  if  the 
yard  was  to  be  surrendered.'  No  reply  came,  for  as  Slem- 
mer awaited  the  return  of  the  messenger  the  navy-yard  was 
passing  out  of  the  Federal  government's  control. 

The  first  Alabama  militia  to  arrive  in  Pensacola  reached 
there  late  on  the  evening  of  January  nth.*  The  com- 
panies were  led  by  Colonel  Lomax.  They  were  sent  by  the 
governor  of  Alabama  at  the  request  of  the  governor  of 
Florida.  The  following  day,  January  12th,  a  detachment 
of  Florida  and  Alabama  troops,  about  500  strong,  marched 
to  the  navy-yard  accompanied  by  two  "  commissioners  "  of 
Florida  appointed  by  Governor  Perry.  °    Following  the  de- 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  444. 

'//.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  87,  pp.  32-33. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt  2,  pp.  4,  7;  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd 
S.,  no.  87,  p.  65.  "  He  [Slemmer]  wanted  the  marines,"  said  Arm- 
strong, "  but  the  marines  were  my  only  protection." 

*  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  87,  p.  55 ;  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i, 
P-  337 ;  V.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  5 ;  s.  iv,  v.  i,  p.  704.  The  troops  were  part  of 
the  2nd  Alabama  Infantry. 

*  »  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  2,  pp.  4,  7 ;  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd 
S.,  no.  87,  pp.  32,  57-60,  etc.  Records  are  not  conclusive  on  the  number 
of  men  who  marched  to  the  yard.  Estimates  vary  from  350  to  more 
than  500.  Scharf  (p.  601)  says  "nearly  500  men."  The  "commission- 
ers "  of  Florida,  according  to  Capt.  Armstrong,  were  Rich.  Campbell 
of  Pensacola  and  Capt.  Randolph. 


THE   SEIZURE  OF  FEDERAL  PROPERTY  gl 

tachment  came  a  crowd  of  "  citizens  of  Pensacola.  Those 
who  had  a  musket  and  owned  a  horse  jumped  on  and  took 
their  guns  and  came  down  to  see  the  fun."^ 

The  militia,  commissioners  and  spectators  found  the 
gates  of  the  yard  closed  and  sentries  walking  the  walls. 
"  The  thick  and  lofty  walls  made  them  feel  rather  ticklish," 
wrote  an  officer  who  experienced  the  sensation.^  A  com- 
pany was  sent  immediately  to  take  possession  of  the  maga- 
zines and  the  abandoned  forts.'  Colonel  Lomax,  Colonel 
Chase,  and  the  commissioners  were  admitted  to  the 
yard  under  flag  of  truce  and  proceeded  to  the  headquarters 
of  Captain  Armstrong.* 

"  We  are  commissioners  appointed  by  Florida  to  de- 
mand the  surrender  of  this  yard,"  announced  the  affable 
Captain  Randolph  of  Alabama,  one  of  the  commissioners. 
The  dazed  Armstrong  looked  helplessly  at  the  speaker. 
The  yard's  garrison  was  less  than  fifty  effective  men.  Col- 
onel Lomax  was  sent  for.  He  quickly  entered  the  room. 
"Commodore,  I  will  read  you  my  instructions,"  said  Lomax. 
"  He  read  his  instructions  to  me  and  was  almost  as  much 
distressed  and  embarrassed  as  I  was,"  stated  Armstrong 
later. 

He  had  to  stop  very  frequently.  I  concluded  that  he  felt  my 
position,  for  which  I  felt  very  grateful  to  him ;  .  .  .  I  stated 
to  him  that  I  had  not  the  force  to  resist  him ;  that  my  whole 
force  consisted  of  a  couple  of  dozen  marines;  that  the  place 
was  not  fortified ;  and  that  I  had  no  alternative  but  surrender. 
.    .    .    To  my  great  surprise  the  first  lieutenant  of  the  yard, 

^  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  87,  p.  32. 

*  Randolph  (a  "  commissioner  "  at  the  time)  in  Phila.  Weekly  Times, 
May  20,  1882. 

'//.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  87,  p.  15. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  87,  pp.  8,  57,  etc.  Scharf,  op.  cit.,  pp. 
602-3,  acct.  by  Lieut.  Renshaw  in  letter  to  N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  29,  1861. 


82  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

who  was  sitting  back  of  me  spoke  out  in  a  very  audible  voice, 
"  Commocbre,  shall  I  haul  down  the  flag? "  I  looked  at  the 
man  astonished.  It  appeared  to  rouse  me  from  a  dream.  I 
bowed  and  turned  my  head  away.^ 

A  few  minutes  later  a  man  rushed  up  to  the  chief  engi- 
neer and  asked  if  the  yard  was  given  up.  "  I  told  him," 
said  the  officer,  "  that  judging  from  the  looks  of  the  flag 
staff  I  should  think  it  was."  -  At  half-past  twelve  the  flag 
of  the  Union  had  been  replaced  by  "  a  flag  of  13  alternate 
stripes  of  red,  white  and  blue  with  a  large  white  star  an- 
nouncing "  the  change  which  had  come  to  pass  in  the  politi- 
cal condition  of  the  state.*  Comparative  tranquillity  ac- 
companied the  transfer  of  authority.  "  The  bell  rang  for 
the  workmen  at  the  yard  about  the  usual  hour  that  it  had 
done  under  the  Government  of  the  United  States,"  affirmed 
Armstrong. 

I  saw  the  smoke  going  up  from  the  tall  chimneys  of  the  ma- 
chine shop  and  blacksmith  shop,  just  as  usual — as  though  noth- 
ing had  transpired ;  the  mechanics  and  those  employed  by  the 
Government  had  just  transferred  their  allegiance  to  Florida 
and  were  going  on  with  their  work.* 

As  the  anxious  watchers  at  Fort  Pickens  saw  the  national 
flag  lowered  they  knew  well  what  it  meant.  It  was  the  cul- 
minating incident  in  the  episode  of  dispossessing  the  Fed- 
eral government  on  Pensacola  bay.  That  power  had  lost 
its  most  important  naval  base  on  the  Gulf,  a  "million-dollar" 
dry-dock,  extensive  and  valuable  marine  work-shops,  ware- 
houses, barracks,  a  well-equipped  "  marine  hospital  ",  two 

'  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  87,  pp.  57-59;  testimony  of  Capt.  Arm- 
strong before  the  Select  Committee  of  the  House  on  Naval  Affairs, 
1861. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  29.  '  Scharf,  op.  cit.,  p.  602. 

*H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  87,  p.  61. 


THE  SEIZURE  OF  FEDERAL  PROPERTY  83 

powerful  forts,  175  cannon,  more  than  12,000  projectiles,^ 
and  ordnance  stores  at  the  navy-yard  variously  estimated  in 
value  from  $117,000  to  $500,000. 

The  command  of  the  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
Louisiana,  and  Florida  militia  which  after  January  loth  rap- 
idly concentrated  at  Pensacola  devolved  upon  Colonel  Chase 
of  Florida,  He  held  his  commission  as  military  commander 
from  the  governor  of  Florida.  Cautious  by  nature  and 
probably  more  astute  as  a  politician  than  bold  as  a  military 
man,  he  was  fearful  of  provoking  armed  conflict.  His 
policy  was  consistently  conservative — and  wisely  so — in 
spite  of  pressure  toward  radicalism  brought  to  bear  upon 
him  by  those  at  Pensacola  and  leaders  in  Washington.  Col- 
onel Lomax,  commander  of  the  Alabama  troops,  was  eager 
to  attack  Fort  Pickens.^  Senator  Mallory  and  Senator 
Yulee  advised  Chase  by  telegraph  to  move  on  Pickens.* 
But  the  colonel  hesitated. 

The  night  of  January  12th  came  dark  and  rainy.  Across 
the  channel  from  Pickens  Alabama  and  Florida  militia  were 
now  encamped  about  the  abandoned  Forts  McRee  and  Bar- 
rancas and  the  captured  navy-yard.  Sometime  near  mid- 
night four  men  presented  themselves  to  the  guard  before 
the  main  entrance  to  Pickens.    They  demanded  admittance 

^  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  pp.  349-350.  The  ordnance  at  Ft.  Bar- 
rancas consisted  of  44  "sea-coast  and  garrison  cannon,"  which  included 
13  8-in.  columbiads  and  howitzers,  2  lo-in.  mortars,  11  32-pounders, 
10  24's,  5  i8's,  3  19's. 

The  ordnance  at  Barrancas  barracks:  4  6's  field  guns  and  2  12's 
howitzers. 

The  ordnance  at  Ft.  McRee :  125  "  sea-coast  and  garrison  cannon," 
including  3  lo-in.  and  12  8-in.  columbiads,  20  42's,  24  32's,  64  24's,  etc. 

See  Rpt.  Capt.  Maynadier,  Jan.  3,  1861. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  11 ;  Randolph  in  Philadelphia 

Weekly  Times,  May  20,  1882. 

I 
'  Off,  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  444. 


84  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

as  commissioners  of  Florida  and  Alabama.  This  was  re- 
fused. Thereupon  Captain  Randolph,  the  leader,  demanded 
the  surrender  of  the  fort  to  the  governors  of  Florida  and 
Alabama.^  Lieutenant  Slemmer,  who  had  been  summoned 
by  the  guard,  replied  that  the  fort  was  held  under  orders 
from  the  President  of  the  United  States ;  that  he  recognized 
no  rights  of  any  governors  to  demand  the  surrender  of 
United  States  property;  and  that  he  would  defend  the  place 
against  attack.  After  this  explicit  and  positive  reply  the 
representatives  of  the  states  withdrew. 

During  the  weeks  of  cold  and  rainy  weather  which  fol- 
lowed, the  few  men  at  Pickens  were  kept  hard  at  work 
putting  the  dilapidated  fortification  in  shape  for  defense. 
Twice  during  the  period  Chase  demanded  that  Slemmer 
surrender.  "  I  have  full  power,"  he  informed  Slemmer, 
January  i8th, 

from  the  Governor  of  Florida  to  take  possession  of  the  forts 
and  the  Navy  Yard  in  the  harbor.  I  desire  to  perform  this 
duty  without  the  effusion  of  blood.  ...  I  would  not  counsel 
you  to  do  aught  that  is  dishonorable.  .  .  .  Listen  to  me,  then, 
I  beg  of  you,  and  act  with  me  in  preventing  the  shedding  of 
the  blood  of  brethren.     Surrender  the  fort.* 

Slemmer  replied: 

We  deprecate  as  much  as  you  or  any  individual  can  the  pres- 
ent state  of  affairs,  or  the  shedding  of  the  blood  of  our  breth- 
ren. In  regard  to  this  matter,  however,  we  must  consider  you 
the  aggressors  and  if  blood  is  shed,  you  are  responsible  there- 
for.* 

1  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  p.  337 ;  Gilman,  J.  H.,  in  Battles  and  Leaders  of 
the  Civil  War,  v.  i,  pp.  29-30. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  pp.  337-338. 

•  Ibid.,  p.  338. 


THE  SEIZURE  OF  FEDERAL  PROPERTY  85 

The  position  of  the  Federal  force  at  Fort  Pickens  was 
perilous.  Colonel  Lomax  and  his  Alabama  troops  wished  to 
storm  the  work.^  Mississippians  and  Floridians  would 
have  eagerly  gone  with  such  a  storming  party.  The  Fed- 
eral warship  Wyandotte  was  ordered  to  Cuba  and  the 
Supply  sailed  for  Vera  Cruz,  Mexico,  soon  after  Slem- 
mer's  transfer,^  The  administration  in  Washington  failed 
to  support  the  little  group  of  men  doggedly  facing  odds  in 
Florida.  Until  the  firing  on  Sumter,  fairly  amicable  rela- 
tions existed  between  Slemmer's  force  in  Pickens  and  the 
Southern  troops  across  the  channel.  Intercourse  between 
the  merchants  of  Pensacola  and  the  Federal  garrison  con- 
tinued unrestricted  for  several  weeks.  Meat  and  vegetables 
came  to  the  island  almost  daily.  The  garrison  mail  was  al- 
lowed to  go  through  after  undergoing  examination.' 
United  States  officers  from  Pickens  with  militia  officers 
from  the  opposing  forces  were  entertained  occasionally  at 
the  same  banquet  tables  on  the  Federal  warships  anchored 
off  the  harbor.* 

The  seizure  of  Federal  property  in  Florida  was  the 
logical  concomitant  of  secession.  It  threw  in  high  relief 
the  real  situation.  Directed  by  executive  order  solely  and 
accomplished  by  force,  it  clearly  indicated  the  arrival  of  the 
crisis  in  Florida.  Governor  Perry's  designs  had  been  exe- 
cuted, not  gently  by  civil  agents  with  the  conventional 
respect  for  diplomatic  usage,  but  abruptly  by  armed  militia 

»  Randolph  in  Phila.  Weekly  Times,  May  20,  1882.  Off.  Reds.  Retell., 
s.  i,  V.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  11;  indirect  reference  to  the  intention  of  Lomax  to 
occupy  Pickens. 

»//.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  and  S.,  no.  87,  p.  15;  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  i, 
p.  336. 

•  Off.  Reds.  Rebeli,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  340. 

*  Scharf,  op.  eit.,  p.  607.  Gen.  Bragg,  of  the  Confed.  army  on  Pensa- 
cola bay,  dined  several  times  with  CapL  Adams  of  the  U.  S.  ship  Sabine. 


86  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

with  the  usual  reliance  upon  physical  force.  It  is  doubtful 
if  the  state  could  have  acquired  Federal  property  by  any 
other  means.  The  governor  acted  with  powerful  backing. 
Senators  Mallory  and  Yulee  very  probably  expressed  to 
him  approval  of  his  policy  before  it  was  put  into  execution. 
The  secession  leaders  in  the  convention  were  his  political 
friends  and  advisors.  The  governors  of  Alabama  and 
Mississippi  were  with  him — ^gave  him  assurances  of  aid  in 
December  and  followed  the  assurances  with  troops  in  Janu- 
ary. Finally,  what  is  of  fundamental  importance,  Perry 
had  acted  in  substantial  accord  with  public  opinion  in  Flor- 
ida. The  desire  there  to  quit  the  Union  was  strong.  The 
average  citizen  South  had  little  patience  with  "  kid-glove  ", 
doctrinaire,  or  conservative  methods  of  opposing  the 
North.  The  governor  had  guessed  correctly  the  temper  of 
his  people.  As  one  man  put  it :  "  He  would  have  been  a 
damn  fool  if  he  had  guessed  anything  else." 

Yet  the  breakdown  of  Federal  administration  in  Florida 
was  not  as  immediate  as  might  be  inferred  from  the  exist- 
ence of  such  sentiment.  Within  the  state  many  of  the  post- 
masters, several  Federal  internal  revenue  officials,  public- 
land  officials,  marshals,  deputy  marshals,  light-house  keep- 
ers, customs  officials,  naval  and  army  officers  as  well  as  a 
Federal  district  judge,  all  resigned  formally  or  informally 
gave  up  their  positions  either  a  few  days  before  or  a  few 
days  after  Florida  seceded.^  Some  continued  nominally  at 
their  posts  until  Sumter  was  fired  on.  Remittances  from 
some  Florida  post-offices  reached  the  postal  department  in 
Washington  until  April,  1861.''  Of  the  174  postmasters 
in  the  state  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  only  35  had  for- 

■  U.  S.  OMc.  Directory,  1861,  pp.  67,  78,  79,  191,  198,  204-206;  Sen. 
I>ocs.,  37th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  i,  pp.  286,  479,  646;  no.  2,  pp.  183,  204. 
H.  Repts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  pp.  7,  8,  9,  24,  25. 

*  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  37th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  i,  p.  646. 


THE  SEIZURE  OF  FEDERAL  PROPERTY  87 

mally  resigned  by  June.^  Federal  customs  officials  made  no 
remittances  to  Washington  after  January,  1861.'^  They 
turned  over  their  receipts  to  the  state  treasury — most  of 
them  continuing  for  some  time  at  their  posts  as  state  cus- 
toms officials.  This  situation — vis.,  the  general  resignation 
or  desertion  of  Federal  employees  in  compliance  with  state 
law  and  public  opinion — quickly  paralyzed  the  operation  of 
Federal  law  in  Florida. 

Yulee  and  Mallory  publicly  gave  up  their  seats  in  the 
United  States  Senate  on  January  21st* — eleven  days  after 
their  state  had  seceded.  "  I  trust,  Sir,  that  when  we  next 
confront  each  other,"  said  Mallory  on  taking  leave  of  his 
fellow  senators,  "  whether  at  this  bar  or  that  of  the  just 
God,  who  knows  the  hearts  of  all,  our  lips  shall  not  have 
uttered  a  word,  our  hands  shall  not  have  committed  an  act 
against  the  blood  of  our  people."  He  concluded:  "  One  by 
one  we  have  seen  the  representatives  of  the  true  and  fear- 
less friends  of  the  Constitution  fall  at  our  sides  until  hardly 
a  forlorn  hope  remains;  and  whatever  be  our  destiny  the 
future  with  all  of  life's  darker  memories  will  be  brightened 
by  their  devotion  to  the  true  principles  of  our  govern- 
ment." * 

As  already  pointed  out,  the  people  of  Florida  since  the 
autumn  of  i860  had  been  in  process  of  forming  many 
minor  military  organizations  hostile  to  the  Union.  These 
companies  within  a  few  months  became  part  of  the  state 
militia  or  part  of  the  Confederate  army.  The  popular  ris- 
ing in  the  South  and  the  rapid  organization  of  Confederate 

1  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  37th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  i,  p.  286.     *  Ibid.,  no.  2,  p.  183. 

*  Cong.  Globe,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  pp.  484,  486.  On  January  15th  Yulee 
and  Mallory  informed  Gov.  Perry  that  they  had  "  ceased  participating 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  Senate  and  only  await  receipt  of  authoritative 
ordinance  to  retire  formally." — Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  8. 

*  Cong.  Globe,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  p.  486. 


88  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

armies  constitute  proof  that  radical  Southern  governors 
had  judged  well  the  times. 

In  i860  the  condition  of  the  Florida  militia  was  ineffi- 
cient. Population  was  spread  thinly  over  the  land/  and 
citizens  for  one  reason  or  another  had  failed  to  show  much 
interest  in  local  military  affairs.  They  would  have  seemed 
to  the  casual  observer  a  most  unmilitary  folk,  interested  in 
their  farms,  plantations,  and  homes,  to  the  exclusion  of 
other  things.  The  militia  existed  principally  on  the  statute 
books.  But  when  the  slave-holding  states,  "  obeying  the 
same  swell  of  public  sentiment  ",  began  to  move  toward  dis- 
union and  possible  war,  then  men  began  to  group  themselves 
into  military  companies.  The  crisis  brought  to  pass  what 
previous  militia  laws  had  failed  to  accomplish. 

In  1858,  '59,  '60  Governor  Perry  had  referred  in  his  mes- 
sages to  the  inefficiency  of  the  state  military  organization 
and  the  necessity  of  a  military  capable  of  meeting  the  diffi- 
culties which  he  believed  impending.^  The  legislature  fol- 
lowed his  advice  in  1859  by  passing  a  law  which  provided 
for  the  reorganization  of  the  militia.'  State-wide  elections 
by  county  for  commissions  in  the  militia  were  held  during 
the  spring  of  i860.  Slight  interest  was  manifested.  The 
voting  was  light.  From  seven  counties  no  returns  at  all  were 
received.*  The  election  was  probably  not  devoid  of  im- 
portance. It  turned  people's  attention  at  a  critical  time  to 
the  local  military  question  and  thus  helped  prepare  the  state 
for  the  unusual  stress  and  strain  and  confusion  of  1861. 

During   the   latter   half    of    i860   vigilant    committees 

^  Census,  i860.  White  population  was  77,747 ;  black,  62,677.  This 
meant  less  than  2  persons  to  the  square  mile.  Massachusetts  at  the 
time  had  more  than  75  per  square  mile  and  New  York  more  than  50. 

*  Governor's  Messages,  Floridian. 

•  Laws  of  Florida,  1859. 
^Floridian,  June  16,  i860. 


THE  SEIZURE  OF  FEDERAL  PROPERTY  89 

and  companies  of  "  Minute  Men  " — semi-military  in  char- 
acter— had  been  organized  in  Florida.  During  the  late 
autumn  some  of  these  companies  began  to  proffer  their  ser- 
vices to  the  state.  When  the  governor  accepted  them  (and 
he  did  so  with  alacrity)  they  became  part  of  the  militia.  It 
was  after  the  formation  of  a  Southern  confederacy  in  Feb- 
ruary that  the  increasing  multitude  of  independent  military 
bodies  springing  into  existence  throughout  Florida  began 
to  coalesce  under  the  governor's  direction  into  regiments 
for  the  Confederate  service. 

The  first  troops  were  mobilized,  organized,  and  equipped 
principally  from  private  means  directly.^  Local  leaders  and 
their  friends  bore  most  of  the  expense  which  was  shifted 
to  the  state  or  the  Confederacy  later  by  reimbursements.* 
The  governor,  co-operating  with  his  adjutant-general,  re- 
ceived the  companies  and  regiments  into  service.*  Perry, 
in  a  message  to  the  legislature  on  February  2nd,  1861,  ad- 
vised that  practical  steps  be  taken  at  once  to  increase  and 
more  effectively  organize  the  state  militia.  On  February 
14th  a  law  was  enacted  which  really  created  Florida's  Civil 
War  militia.*  The  adjutant-general  was  by  the  statute  di- 
rected to  distribute  blank  lists  of  enrollment  to  every  cap- 
tain and  lieutenant  then  holding  a  commission  from  the 
state.  These  officers  were  to  canvass  for  the  signatures  of 
volunteers.  The  muster-roll  of  each  company  formed  in 
this  manner  was  to  be  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the 
geographical  district  from  which  the  company  hailed.  The 
governor  was  authorized  to  raise  at  once  two  regiments  of 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  iv,  v.  i,  p.  333.  Conversation  with  those  who 
lived  in  Florida  at  the  time. 

*  Treasurer's  Report  to  Convention,  Jan.,  1862,  Proceedings  of  Con- 
ven.,  p.  71. 

'  Proceedings  of  Conven.,  1862,  passim. 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  1861,  loth  Sess.,  chap.  1095. 


90  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

infantry  and  one  of  cavalry.  Elaborate  rules  were  formu- 
lated for  the  government  of  the  state's  army,  which  during 
the  first  year  of  war  existed  as  an  organization  distinct 
from  the  Confederate  army. 

The  formal  organization  of  the  Confederate  army  was 
begun  on  March  ist,  1861.  On  that  day  the  secretary  of 
war  notified  the  governors  of  the  states  in  the  Confederacy 
that  by  the  act  of  February  28th  the  president  of  the  Con- 
federate States  was  authorized  to  receive  volunteers  for 
twelve  months  and  was  directed  to  assume  command  of  all 
military  in  matters  "  concerning  outside  powers  "/  Rap- 
idly from  this  date  (March  ist)  the  Confederate  war  de- 
partment shaped  the  course  of  military  organization  in  the 
states.  On  March  6th  the  "  Confederate  States  Army  " 
was  created  by  act  of  Congress.^  The  president  was  au- 
thorized therein  to  employ  the  militia  of  the  states  to  repel 
invasion  and  to  call  out  as  national  troops  100,000  volun- 
teers for  twelve  months.  Volunteers  were  to  furnish  their 
own  clothes  and  if  mounted  their  own  horses.  When  the 
volunteer  entered  "  active  service "  he  was  to  be  reim- 
bursed by  the  Confederate  government  for  the  clothing  fur- 
nished by  himself. 

On  March  9th  the  first  requisitions  for  troops  were  ad- 
dressed to  the  governors  by  the  Confederate  war  depart- 
ment. "If  you  can  supply  this  requisition  immediately 
without  publication  of  your  order,"  wrote  Secretary  Walker 
to  the  governors,  "  it  would  be  better  to  do  so,  as  it  is  ad- 
visable as  far  as  practicable  to  keep  our  movements  con- 
cealed from  the  Government  of  the  United  States."  5,000 
troops  were  requisitioned  for  "  duty  at  Pensacola ". 
Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Lxjuisiana  were  asked  to  furnish 

^  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  iv,  v.  i,  pp.  117-119. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  126. 


THE  SEIZURE  OF  FEDERAL  PROPERTY 


91 


1,000  soldiers  each  to  this  army;  Mississippi,  1,500;  and 
Florida,  500.^ 

By  the  middle  of  March  the  mobilization  of  Florida 
troops — both  militia  and  Confederate — was  well  under 
way.  Companies  were  assembling  with  clatter  and  con- 
fusion at  Tallahassee,  Chattahoochee,  Jacksonville,  Fernan- 
dina,  St.  Augustine,  Gainesville,  Apalachicola,  Quincy, 
Marianna,  Monticello,  Pensacola,  etc.^  Regiments  soon 
began  to  take  shape  and  the  state  government  rapidly  as- 
sumed the  expense  of  equipment,  travel  and  maintenance 
for  all  troops  raised  in  Florida.  The  Confederate  govern- 
ment from  time  to  time  paid  to  the  state  sums  in  liquida- 
tion of  this  debt  incurred  for  Confederate  troops.*  During 
the  year  1861,  $478,253  were  expended  by  the  state  govern- 
ment for  the  Confederacy,  according  to  the  state  adjutant- 
general.  Of  this  amount  $267,755  went  for  arms,  ammu- 
nition, and  general  equipment*  The  direction  and  super- 
vision of  expenditure  were  divided  between  the  governor 
and  the  state  quartermaster-general.  The  state  accounts 
are  so  badly  muddled  that  it  is  probably  impossible  to  esti- 
mate with  accuracy  how  much  was  really  expended  and  for 
what. 

Arms,  ammunition,  accoutrements,  tents,  and  even  cloth- 
ing for  Florida  troops  were  purchased  in  Charleston,  Sa- 
vannah, Columbus  (Georgia),  Mobile,  and  New  Orleans.' 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  iv,  v.  i,  p.  135. 

*  Robertson,  Soldiers  of  Florida,  with  regimental  histories  and  com- 
pany rolls  with  date  of  mustering  into  service,  passim. 

'  For  the  question  of  reimbursing  Florida,  see  Confederate  Congress 
Journal,  H.  Docs.,  s8th  C,  2nd  S.,  v.  i,  pp.  377,  427,  448,  449,  463.  The 
first  act  to  reimburse  Florida  was  passed  Aug.  31,  1861. 

*  Adj.-Gen.'s  Report,  Proceedings  of  Conven.,  1862,  pp.  25,  31. 

*  Bezenet  to  Long,  Apr.  11,  1865;  Milton  to  Seddon,  Aug.  26,  1864; 
Secretary  of  Gov.  to  Puleston,  Apr.  22,  1865.    Milton  Papers. 


92  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Such  supplies  began  to  come  into  the  state  as  early  as  Janu- 
ary, 1 86 1.  The  New  York  Herald  stated  in  February  that 
since  December,  i860,  the  Florida  government  had  received 
from  outside  its  limits  1,000  Manard  rifles,  4,000  percus- 
sion muskets,  50,000  ball  cartridges,  and  180,000  primers.^ 
The  muskets  came  probably  from  South  Carolina — for 
early  in  January,  L.  W.  Spratt,  the  one-time  commissioner 
to  Florida,  shipped  from  Charleston  to  Governor  Perry 
4,000  "  United  States  percussion  muskets  ".^ 

Supplies  from  Mobile  for  Florida  were  brought  by  boat 
into  Perdido  bay,  landed  west  of  Pensacola,  and  carted  about 
fifteen  miles  to  the  troops  encamped  at  the  navy-yard  and 
Fort  Barrancas.  Supplies  from  eastern  Alabama  and  cen- 
tral Georgia  came  by  boat  down  the  Chattahoochee  river  or 
overland  by  wagon  into  Central  Florida.'  Supplies  from 
Charleston  and  Savannah  came  into  the  state  by  water  and 
rail  to  Fernandina  and  Jacksonville,  and  from  these  points 
were  distributed.*  Rifles,  muskets,  pistols,  sabres,  field- 
guns,  saddles,  accoutrements,  ammunition,  and  tents  came 
from  other  states.  Wagons,  horses,  forage,  food,  and  some 
clothing  came  from  within  the  state. 

Before  the  end  of  the  war  many  counties,  towns,  villages, 
and  families  were  contributing  directly  to  the  support  of 
soldiers  in  the  field.  The  women  at  first  embroidered  flags 
and  banners  for  the  companies  and  regiments.  Grim  real- 
ities soon  put  them  desperately  to  work  on  socks,  mufflers, 
bandages,  coats,  sand  sacks,  etc.  They  wove  or  purchased 
cloth  which  they  made  into  clothing  for  the  soldiers."    The 

1  New  York  Herald,  Feb.  — ,   1861.     (Town send  Library,  Columbia 
University.) 

'Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  2,  pp.  12,  29. 

*  Ibid.,  s.  iv,  V.  I,  p.  779. 

*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  I,  p.  408. 

5  Governor's  Messages,  Nov.  17,  1862;  Nov.  21,  1864,  Milton  Papers. 


THE  SEIZURE  OF  FEDERAL  PROPERTY 


93 


state  purchased  cloth  and  delivered  it  to  patriotic  organiza- 
tions of  women  to  be  fashioned  into  soldiers'  garments/ 

The  companies  composing  the  first  few  regiments  were 
possessed  of  considerable  esprit-de-corps  and  local  pride. 
War  was  new  to  the  rank  and  file.  Traditions  of  glory  and 
prowess  in  combat  are  handed  down  from  one  generation 
to  the  other,  and  each  generation  secretly  yearns  to  tread 
the  paths  of  glory.  Traditions  of  misery  and  unburied  dead 
whose  festering  blood-clotted  bodies  pathetically  attest  the 
reality  of  the  combat  seem  to  each  new  generation  unnatural 
and  hideous  facts  to  be  recollected  in  a  crisis  with  a  dimmed 
memory  and  labeled  by  the  practical  man  as  bugaboos.  In 
Florida,  company  colors  were  presented  by  enthusiastic 
friends  amid  cheering,  speech-making,  tears,  singing, 
stately  oaths,  and  martial  music.  The  war  was  glorious 
then — clothed  in  a  sort  of  tinsel  glory.  It  became  hideous 
later,  and  from  the  stench  and  gloom  of  the  grave  a  new 
and  different  glory  sprang — more  lasting,  sadder,  more 
beautiful  perhaps.  "  I  well  remember  the  presentation  of 
our  company  colors  by  the  sister  of  our  captain,"  remarked 
a  member  of  the  First  Florida  Infantry  many  years  later. 
"  I  have  seen  many  flags  since,  but  that  was  the  most  beau- 
tiful to  me." 

The  First  Infantry  was  mustered  regularly  into  Confed- 
erate service  on  April  5th,  1861,  for  twelve  months'  ser- 
vice, and  it  embarked  at  once  on  river  boats  at  Chattahoo- 
chee, Florida,  en  route  via  Columbus,  Georgia,  for  Pensa- 
cola  ^ — a  round-about  way.    "  Along  the  way  we  were  told 

^  Laws  of  Florida,  chap.  1288,  nth  Sess.,  and  resolutions  4  and  5; 
chap.  1427,  I2th  Sess.;  chap.  1454,  13th  Sess.  Finley  to  Milton,  Dec. 
16,  1863;  Apr.  16,  1864.  Milton  Papers.  Rpt.  Q.-M.  Gen.,  Oct.  21,  1864, 
Sen.  Journal  (Fla.). 

*  Oif.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  iv,  v.  i,  p.  188. 


94  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

that  Sumter  had  been  fired  on,"  said  a  veteran.  "  There 
was  cheering."  ^ 

Before  the  First  Regiment  reached  Pensacola  the  Con- 
federate government  made  a  new  call  (April  8th)  for  vol- 
unteers. The  requisition  to  Florida  this  time  was  for  1,500 
men.'*  On  April  i6th,  2,000  more  troops  from  Florida  were 
called  for.  "If  you  cannot  raise  the  amount  I  will  revoke 
the  order,"  telegraphed  the  secretary  to  Governor  Perry. 
"  Will  raise  the  2,000  as  soon  as  possible,"  replied  Perry.* 
By  June  the  governor  was  prepared  to  fill  the  requisition,* 
but  the  regiments  then  organized  were  not  mustered  in 
till  July  and  August. °  The  requisitions  for  the  Confederate 
"  Reserve  Corps  "  were  sent  out  on  June  30th.  Florida 
was  asked  for  1,000  men.®  The  reserves  were  maintained 
by  the  state  in  camps  of  instruction  until  absorbed  in  the 
active  army  of  the  Confederacy. 

During  1861  the  Confederate  war  department  called  on 
Florida  for  5,000  troops.  The  muster  rolls  of  those  mili- 
tary organizations  entering  state  and  Confederate  service 
during  this  first  year  of  hostilities  present  a  sum  total  of 
6,772 — of  whom  5,491  were  infantry,  1,150  cavalry,  and 
331  artillery.  They  were  grouped  in  four  infantry  regi- 
ments; one  cavalry  regiment;  nine  unattached  companies 
of  infantry;  four  of  artillery,  and  three  of  cavalry. '^    Most 

^  Mr.  Wm.  Trimmer,  Molino,  Fla.,  who  was  mustered  in  at  Apala- 
chicola,  Company  B. 

*  OfF.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  iv,  v.  i,  pp.  211,  213. 

'  ^bid.,  *■  Ibid.,  p.  333. 

^  Robertson,  Soldiers  of  Florida,  pp.  77,  99,  118,  247. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  iv,  v.  i,  p.  412. 

Robertson,  op.  cit.,  pp.  35-135,  246-260,  296-304.  I  am  much  indebted 
to  the  industry  and  scholarship  of  the  late  Col.  Fred  L.  Robertson,  of 
Tallahassee.  His  short  regimental  and  company  histories  and  extended 
compilation  of  muster  rolls  with  notes  are  of  sound  value  to  the  stu- 
dent of  the  Civil  War  in  Florida. 


THE  SEIZURE  OF  FEDERAL  PROPERTY  95 

of  the  unattached  companies  were  in  the  state  militia,  which 
numbered  less  than  1,000  men/  Men  sought  enrollment  in 
the  Confederate  army  in  preference  to  the  militia,  and  cav- 
alry was  the  popular  branch  of  the  service.  "  There  is 
much  derangement  of  military  affairs  in  this  State  owing 
chiefly  to  the  desire  to  enter  Confederate  service  for  short 
periods  and  certain  pay,"  stated  the  governor  of  Florida  in 
October,  1861.  "  Almost  every  man  that  has  a  pony  wishes 
to  mount  him  at  the  expense  of  the  Confederate  govern- 
ment." ' 

A  committee  of  the  legislature  estimated  the  current  rate 
of  military  expenditures  by  the  state  at  the  close  of  1861  to 
be  $750,000  per  annum — an  exaggerated  estimate  com- 
puted upon  a  depreciating  currency.^  Yet  the  militia  was  a 
heavy  drain  upon  the  credit  of  the  state,  and  therefore 
many  people  (including  the  committee)  wished  to  have  the 
Confederate  Government  take  over  entirely  the  maintenance 
of  all  troops. 

The  question  of  recruitment,  mobilization,  and  regi- 
mental organization  became  in  a  few  months  a  matter  for 
Confederate  officials  primarily.  After  June  30th,  1861,  no 
more  requisitions  were  sent  by  the  war  department  directly 
to  the  governor  of  Florida.  The  state  was  divided  into 
military  districts,  and  the  officers  in  charge  presented  requi- 
sitions to  the  governor  and  were  aided  by  him  in  raising 
troops.  The  Conscript  Act  was  passed  in  April,  1862.  The 
Confederate  congress  therein  declared  all  able-bodied  men 
of  specified  age  liable  for  duty  in  the  Confederate  army.* 

^  Rpt.  Adj.-Gen.,  Proceedings  of  Conven.,  1862,  p.  28.     In  Jan.,  1862, 
the  number  of  state  troops  was  762. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  290. 

*  Proceedings  of  Conven.,  1862. 

*  The  Convention  of  1862  at  Tallahassee  abolished  the  state  militia. 
In  Dec,  1864,  the  state  legislature  passed  a  law  for  the  reorganiza- 


96 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


This  practically  abolished  the  state  militia.  The  single, 
homogeneous  military  system  of  the  new  central  govern- 
ment thus  superseded  the  eleven  systems  of  the  common- 
wealths. 

tion  of  the  militia  to  include  males  under  i6  and  over  55  years  of 
age.    See  Laws  of  Florida,  13th  S.,  chap.  1433. 


CHAPTER  V 
The  Fort  Pickens  Truce 

President  Buchanan^s  policy  in  the  secession  crisis 
was  not  aggressive.  "  Defense  and  not  aggression  has  been 
the  policy  of  the  administration  from  the  beginning,"  ^  he 
stated  late  in  January,  1861.  With  this  principle  he  was 
consistent  to  the  end,  and  for  this  course  he  has  been  bitterly 
criticised.  If  Mr.  Buchanan  had  been  more  combative,  less 
regardful  of  the  constitution,  and  less  logical  in  law  he 
might  have  acquired  a  reputation  for  executive  efficiency 
equal  to  that  of  Andrew  Jackson  and  not  to  be  surpassed 
by  the  later  fame  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

The  President  realized  that  a  serious  breach  existed  be- 
tween North  and  South,^  but  he  blindly  hoped  that  a  pro- 
gram of  laissez  faire  would  bring  about  somehow  a  peaceful 
adjustment  of  sectional  difficulties.  "  I  still  hope  the  storm 
will  blow  over,"  he  wrote  George  Wharton  in  December, 
i860.*  "  Time  is  a  great  conservative  power,"  he  declared 
three  weeks  later  as  secession  conventions  were  assembling 
in  the  far  South,  already  aflame  in  revolution.  "  Let  us 
pause  at  this  momentous  point  and  afford  the  people  both 
North  and  South  an  opportunity  for  reflection."  * 

There  is  something  almost  ludicrous  in  this,  probably, 

^  Moore,  Works  of  Buchanan,  v.  xi,  p.  ii8  (Jan.  28,  Mess,  on  Va. 
Peace  Resolutions). 
^  Ibid.,  pp.  7-43  (4th  An.  Mess.),  66,  v.  xii,  pp.  45-116,  etc. 
» Ibid.,  p.  66,  Dec.  i6th. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  97,  Sp.  Mess,  to  Cong.,  Jan.  8,  1861. 

97 


gg  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

to  the  headstrong  man  of  action.  Buchanan  was  in  truth 
not  a  headstrong  man  of  action,  but  a  passive  lover  of  peace, 
who  sought  for  and  respected  constitutional  rights  and  au- 
thority.' 

"  The  worst  feature  in  the  aspect  of  affairs,"  he  stated 
in  commenting  on  the  Southern  states,  "  is  that  they  are 
rapidly  losing  their  respect  and  attachment  for  the  Consti- 
tution." ^ 

In  the  national  situation  party  politics  and  legal  sub- 
tleties confused  at  that  time  the  thinking  of  men  whose 
mental  processes  were  usually  clear.  The  problem  of  pre- 
serving the  Union  was  difficult;  and  of  preserving  it  with- 
out bloodshed  and  lawlessness,  well-nigh  impossible.  Bu- 
chanan sought  consistently  to  perform  the  latter  task. 
He  believed  that  the  coercion  of  a  state  by  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment would  be  not  only  bad  politics  but  a  procedure 
totally  unsupported  by  the  public  law  of  the  nation.^  He 
believed  with  equal  firmness  that  constitutionally  it  was 
his  duty  to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  Union  and  to  resist  by 
force  if  necessary  any  efforts  to  seize  Federal  property;* 
but  he  realized  that  the  performance  in  seceded  states  of 
such  a  duty  then  would  be  politically  inexpedient  and  prob- 
ably disastrous  to  the  cause  of  peace.''     The  President  ex- 

^  Moore,  Works  of  Buchanan,  v.  xi,  pp.  7-43  (4th  Annual  Message)  ; 
pp.  44-48  (G.  T.  Curtis's  letter)  ;  pp.  116-117  (Message  on  Va.  Peace 
Resolutions,  Jan.  28)  ;  pp.  152-154  (Message  on  Troops  in  Washing- 
ton) ;  V.  xii.  "  Mr.  Buchanan's  Administration,"  by  Mr.  Buchanan, 
pp.  1-210. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  66,  to  Geo.  Wharton,  Dec.  i6th,  marked  "  private  and  con- 
fidential ". 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  18-19,  60  (to  Gen.  Cass,  Dec.  isth). 

*  Ibid.,  p.  72  (letter  to  Gov.  Pickens,  Dec.  20)  ;  p.  96  (Sp.  Mess.,  Jan. 
8);  pp.  109-111  (Memorandum  of  a  Conversation,  Jan.  16);  p.  118 
(Mess.,  Jan.   18). 

^  Ibid.,  pp.  96-99,  III,  118. 


THE  FORT  PICKENS  TRUCE  99 

pressed  the  opinion  early  in  January  that  the  situation  had 
assumed  "  such  vast  and  alarming  proportions  "  as  to  be 
"  above  and  beyond  executive  control.  .  .  . 

"  The  fact  cannot  be  disguised,"  he  said,  "  that  we  are  in 
the  midst  of  a  great  revolution."  ^  The  theories  of  the  ad- 
ministration were  put  to  immediate  test  in  the  retention  of 
Federal  property  south. 

The  peculiar  situation  in  Pensacola  and  Charleston  har- 
bors during  December  and  January,  186061,  attracted 
public  attention  sharply  and  persistently  to  these  two 
hitherto  inconspicuous  points.  Any  determined  attempt  by 
the  Federal  government  to  reinforce  its  garrison  at  either 
place  threatened  to  precipitate  civil  war.  In  even  the  reten- 
tion of  the  forts  by  the  Union  some  leaders  professed  to 
see  the  certainty  of  a  popular  civil  war;  yet  to  give  them  up 
supinely  would  involve  the  recognition  of  demands  made 
by  the  secessionists.  President  Buchanan  was  confronted 
with  the  problem  of  curbing  a  vast  revolution  with  a  few 
thousand  scattered  regulars,  or  of  certainly  exciting  a  vaster 
revolution  by  calling  for  volunteers.^  Honest  man,  experi- 
enced diplomat,  and  old  statesman  that  he  was,  the  Presi- 
dent was  not  equal  to  the  task  of  preserving  both  peace 
and  the  Union.  He  sought  to  shift  the  responsibility  to 
Congress."  "  It  is  for  Congress  to  decide  the  question,"  he 
said,*  and  Congress  in  session  at  the  time  took  a  less  posi- 
tive position   than  the   President — although   some   of   its 

1  Moore,  Works  of  Buchanan,  v.  xi,  p.  96. 

» H.  Ex.  Docs.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  26,  pp.  8-12.  See  also  Works  of 
Buchanan,  v.  xi,  pp.  51-52,  279-293  (Reply  to  Scott)  ;  v.  xii,  pp.  84-91 
(Buchanan's  defense). 

^Ihid.,  pp.  17,  18  (Mess.,  Dec.  3)  ;  79  (Dec.  31)  ;  117-118  (Jan.  28), 
etc. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  72  (letter  to  Gov.  Pickens,  Dea  20). 


lOo  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

members  at  a  later  date  bitterly  condemned  him/  In  re- 
gard to  Florida,  Buchanan  decided  to  reinforce  Pickens  and 
then  changed  his  mind.  He  awaited  peace  by  compromise 
and  while  such  a  peace  was  pending  a  truce  existed  on  Pen- 
sacola  bay. 

The  senators  from  Florida,  Mississippi  and  Alabama 
withdrew  from  Congress  on  January  2ist.^  Mr.  Mallory 
left  two  days  later  for  his  home  in  Pensacola.'  Mr.  Yulee 
remained  for  the  moment  in  Washington.*  Before  this 
withdrawal  a  sharp  change  had  taken  place  in  the  opinions 
of  Southern  leaders  at  Washington  concerning  the  situa- 
tion in  West  Florida.  Both  Mallory  and  Yulee  while  in  the 
United  States  Senate  had  urged  Colonel  Chase  to  take  pos- 
session of  Pickens  regardless  of  resistance.'  On  January 
1 6th,  telegrams  from  both  senators  went  from  Washington 
into  Florida  and  Alabama  urging  that  nothing  radical  be 
done.  "  No  blood  must  be  shed  before  a  Southern  Confed- 
eracy is  organized,"  wired  Mallory  to  Governor  Perry. 
"  Jefferson  Davis  tells  me  to  say  that  in  the  present  state  of 
affairs  the  Pensacola  forts  are  not  worth  one  drop  of 
blood."  ®  Similar  messages  were  sent  to  the  governor  of 
Alabama  and  prominent  citizens  of  Pensacola.  "  Jefferson 
Davis  says  Fort  Pickens  is  not  worth  one  drop  of  blood," 
stated  each  message. '^     Reluctantly  Florida,  Alabama,  and 

1  Moore,  Works  of  Buchanan,  v.  xi,  pp.  48-51  (letter  of  G.  T.  Cur- 
tis) ;  V.  xii,  pp.  116-141  (Buchanan's  Defense);  276-278  (Paper  of  W. 
U.  Hensel). 

*  Cong.  Globe,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  pp.  480-490. 

*  OfF.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  13. 
*Ibid.,  pp.  14,  15. 

'  Ibid.,  V.  I,  p.  444. 

"  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  8. 

^  Ibid.,  pp.  9-10.  Messages  were  sent  by  Mallory  to  the  following 
citizens  of  Pensacola :  Col.  Chase,  A.  E.  Maxwell,  R.  C.  Campbell  and 
C.  C.  Yonge. 


THE  FORT  PICKENS  TRUCE  lOi 

Mississippi  militia  put  aside  plans  for  attacking  Pickens/ 
Such  an  attack  then  would  have  meant  that  more  than  i,ooo 
secessionists  assault  8i  Federal  soldiers  in  an  unrepaired 
fort.  Thus  the  formation  of  the  Confederacy  involving 
political  questions  of  unusual  moment  for  the  South  de- 
layed the  attack  on  Fort  Pickens,  began  a  long  truce  in 
West  Florida  and  ultimately  saved  Pensacola  harbor  for 
the  Union. 

When  Mr.  Mallory  reached  Pensacola  he  continued  his 
efforts  to  delay  any  attack  on  Fort  Pickens,  and  he  found 
in  Colonel  Chase  a  willing  fellow  advocate  of  peace.  The 
ex-senator  assumed  charge  of  the  state's  interests  in  West 
Florida.  On  January  28th,  Mr.  Yulee,  still  in  Washington, 
telegraphed  Mallory  and  Chase  in  Pensacola  that  the  war- 
ship Brooklyn  was  "  bound  for  Pensacola  with  two  com- 
panies aboard  ".^  President  Buchanan  was  preparing  to 
prevent  by  force  the  threatened  occupation  of  the  fort  by 
state  militia.^  Mr.  Mallory,  upon  receipt  of  this  startling 
information,  telegraphed  three  fellow  Democrats  in  Wash- 
ington that  no  attack  would  be  made  on  Pickens  as  long  as 
existing  conditions  were  maintained.*  He  requested  that 
his  dispatch  be  laid  before  President  Buchanan — which  was 
done." 

^  Col.  Lomax  was  disappointed  that  he  and  his  men  were  not  given 
an  opportunity  to  occupy  Pickens.  He  considered  his  expedition  a 
failure.  See  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  11.  Oilman  in 
Battles  and  Leaders,  v.  i,  pp.  29-30,  gives  impression  that  attack  was 
planned  by  state  forces. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  15.  The  troops  were  two  com- 
panies of  1st  Artill.  led  by  Capt.  Vogdes. 

'  Moore,  Works  of  Buchanan,  v.  xi,  pp.  13  (Buchanan  to  Tyler,  Jan. 
25)  ;  256  (Buchanan  to  Stanton). 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  354.  Senators  Slidell  and  Hunter  and 
Gov.  Bigler. 

*  Moore,  Works  of  Buchanan,  v.  xi,  pp.  285-286.  Off.  Reds.  Rebell., 
s.  i,  V.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  16. 


I02  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  President  the  day  before  had  formally  refused  to 
give  any  pledge  to  the  representatives  of  the  seceded  states  ;^ 
yet,  induced  by  the  hope  of  avoiding  bloodshed,  he  did  in 
the  case  of  Florida  substantially  what  he  had  done  for 
South  Carolina  ^ — he  receded  somewhat  from  his  position. 
On  January  29th,  he  directed  the  Secretary  of  War  and 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  to  issue  jointly  the  following 
order  to  the  commander  of  the  Federal  forces  on  shipboard 
off  Pensacola  bay :  ^  "  Upon  receiving  satisfactory  assur- 
ances from  Mr.  Mallory  and  Colonel  Chase  that  Fort 
Pickens  will  not  be  attacked,  you  are  instructed  not  to  land 
the  company  on  board  the  Brooklyn  unless  said  fort  shall 
be  attacked  or  preparations  made  for  the  attack."  *  This 
was  the  beginning  of  what  has  been  aptly  termed  by  Nicolay 
and  Hay  the  "  Fort  Pickens  Truce  "^ 

The  garrison  at  Fort  Pickens  was  at  the  mercy  of  politi- 
cal circumstances  and  the  opposing  state  forces  across  the 
channel.  The  Federal  troops  were  out-numbered  twenty  to 
one  by  the  end  of  January.*  The  aid  to  be  rendered  by  the 
Federal  warships  lying  outside  in  the  Gulf  could  not  be 
counted  on  as  very  effective.  In  rough  weather  the  ships 
might  be  as  much  as  fifty  miles  off  shore,  and  even  in  calm 
weather  it  was  no  easy  task  to  land  troops  through  the 
surf  while  under  fire  from  superior  numbers.''    Lieutenant 

^  Moore,  Works  of  Buchanan,  v.  xi,  p.  118,  Mess,  on  Va.  Peace  reso- 
lutions, Jan.  28. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  70-71  (Letter  to  Gov.  Pickens,  memorandum  of  conversa- 
tion). 

'Ibid.,  V.  xii,  pp.  195-197.  Gen.  Scott  approved  of  this  order,  al- 
though he  afterwards  sought  to  deny  it. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  355. 
'Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  v.  iii,  p.  168. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  pp.  354,  358,  455.  Reports  by  Mallory 
and  Vogdes. 

'  See  discussion  of  question  in  Gen.  Scott's  Autobiography,  v.  ii,  p. 
625. 


THE  FORT  PICKENS  TRUCE 


103 


Slemmer's  men  were  hard-worked.  "  On  my  arrival  I 
found  that  there  was  not  a  single  embrasure  shutter  in  the 
Fort,"  he  reported. 

I  caused  some  to  be  constructed  and  others  to  be  taken  from 
Fort  McRee  to  supply  the  deficiency.  At  12  o'clock  at  night 
the  men  were  paraded  and  told  off  to  the  different  batteries  in 
anticipation  of  an  attack.  Slow-match  lighted  and  lanyard  and 
port  fires  in  hand  ready  to  fire.  No  signs  of  an  attack — night 
very  dark  and  rainy.  We  still  labored  on  the  13th  strength- 
ening our  position,  and  at  night  threw  out  sentinels  beyond 
the  glacis.  Men  stood  at  the  guns  as  on  the  night  previous. 
Night  very  dark  and  rainy.  On  the  night  of  13th  a  body  of 
some  ten  men  were  discovered  evidently  reconnoitering.  A 
shot  was  fired  by  them  which  was  returned  by  the  sergeant. 
They  then  retreated.  Nothing  more  could  be  seen  of  the  party 
that  night.  On  the  14th  nothing  of  interest  transpired.  Men 
by  this  time  worn  out  with  labor.  ^ 

By  the  ist  of  February,  1,500  troops  from  Florida, 
Mississippi,  and  Alabama  were  encamped  on  Pensacola 
bay.  Batteries  were  being  perfected  by  the  state  forces. 
Their  guns  converged  on  Fort  Pickens.  Forts  McRee  and 
Barrancas  were  undergoing  repairs.  Their  guns  converged 
on  Pickens  less  than  two  miles  away.  On  March  7th,  Gen- 
eral Braxton  Bragg  was  placed  in  command  of  the  "  Pro- 
visional Army  of  the  Confederate  States,"  on  Pensacola 
bay."  General  Bragg  was  a  West-Pointer.  He  had  served 
with  distinction  in  the  Mexican  War,  and  after  his  service 
in  Mexico  had  retired  from  the  regular  army.  In  1861  he 
left  his  plantation  and  business  in  Louisiana  to  head  the 
provisional  army  of  the  Confederacy  at  Pensacola.  "  I 
know  every  inch  of  Pickens,"  he  said  to  W.  H.  Russell,  an 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  2Z7- 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  448;  v.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  24 


I04  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

English  war  correspondent,  "  for  I  happened  to  be  stationed 
there  as  soon  as  I  left  West  Point,  and  I  don't  think  there 
is  a  stone  in  it  that  I  am  not  as  well  acquainted  with  as 
Harvey  Brown."  ^  Colonel  Brown  was  the  Federal  com- 
mander at  Fort  Pickens  who  succeeded  Lieutenant  Slemmer 
in  April. ^  Colonel  Chase,  who  commanded  the  secessionist 
forces  till  Bragg  arrived,  had  aided  in  planning  and  building 
Pickens  many  years  before.^ 

When  Mr.  Lincoln  came  into  office,  March  4th,  he  soon 
turned  his  attention  officially  to  Florida.  The  new  Presi- 
dent considered  himself  not  bound  by  the  pledges  of  the 
former  administration.  He  intended  that  Fort  Pickens 
should  be  reinforced  at  once.  On  March  5th,  and  again  on 
March  nth,  he  directed  the  war  department  to  dispatch 
troops  to  Pickens.*  On  March  ith,  the  man-of-war  Mo- 
hawk steamed  out  of  New  York  harbor  with  orders  from 
General  Scott  to  Captain  Vogdes,  ist  United  States  Artil- 
lery, directing  him  to  transfer  immediately  his  two  com- 
panies from  the  ship  Brooklyn  to  Pickens.^  The  Brooklyn 
was  lying  off  Pensacola  harbor. 

And  now  General  Scott,  who,  up  to  this  time,  had  coun- 
seled that  Fort  Pickens  be  held,  began  to  see  things  in  an- 
other light.  The  first  state  dinner  given  by  Lincoln  oc- 
curred on  the  evening  of  March  28th.  The  members  of 
the  cabinet  were  present,  and  after  dinner,  Mr.  Lincoln 
called  them  into  an  adjoining  room  for  consultation  on 
matters  of  state.  There  the  President  informed  them  with 
evident  emotion  that  General  Scott  had  on  that  day  advised 

*  Russell,  W.  H.,  My  Diary  North  and  South,  p.  208. 

»  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  365. 

»  Gilman  in  Battles  and  Leaders,  v.  i,  p.  30.     Scharf,  J.  T.,  Confed. 
States  Navy,  p.  603. 

*  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  v.  iii,  p.  393. 
^  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  360. 


THE  FORT  PICKENS  TRUCE  105 

the  evacuation  of  both  Fort  Sumter  and  Fort  Pickens.  The 
general  believed  that  the  evacuation  of  Sumter  alone,  then 
under  consideration,  would  not  have  a  decisive  effect  on  the 
border  states  then  wavering  between  the  Union  and  seces- 
sion. The  evacuation  of  both  forts,  he  thought,  would 
soothe  and  give  confidence  to  the  eight  slave-holding  states 
still  in  the  Union,  and  would  make  them  loyal  to  the  Fed- 
eral government  in  the  crisis.^  The  holding  of  Forts  Jef- 
ferson and  Taylor  on  the  islands  off  the  Florida  coast  de- 
pended, he  thought,  on  an  entirely  different  principle  and 
these  fortifications,  therefore,  should  not  be  given  up.^ 

"  A  long  pause  of  blank  amazement  followed  the  presi- 
dent's recital,  broken  at  length  by  Blair  in  strong  denuncia- 
tion not  only  of  this  advice,  but  of  Scott's  general  course 
regarding  Sumter."  With  his  characteristic  fervor  Mr. 
Blair  charged  General  Scott  with  transcending  his  profes- 
sional duties  and  "  playing  politician  ".  Blair's  gestures 
and  remarks  "  were  understood  by  those  present  as  being 
aimed  specially  at  Seward,  whose  peace  policy  he  had  with 
his  usual  impulsiveness  freely  criticised."  ' 

Mr.  Lincoln  trusted  General  Scott  and  no  doubt  had 
large  confidence  in  his  judgment.  Scott  was  an  old  and 
tried  politician,  although  never  a  very  canny  one.  He  had 
been  a  national  figure  when  Lincoln  was  still  splitting  rails 
in  the  backwoods  of  Illionis.  Seward  had  served  in  high 
public  office  long  and  faithfully.  He  was  fully  convinced 
of  his  ability  to  run  the  administration,  and  convinced  that 
a  policy  of  non-resistance  would  serve  the  Union  by  allay- 
ing excitement  South.  The  question  before  the  cabinet 
was  one  which  would  affect  fundamentally  the  administra- 

*  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  v.  iii,  p.  344. 

*  See  Scott's  memorandum  to  Seddon.     Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  i, 
p.  200. 

'  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  v.  Hi,  p.  345. 


Io6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

tion's  policy  and  the  history  of  the  entire  country.  The 
native  poHtical  sagacity  of  the  new  President  probably  sur- 
passed that  of  any  one  among  his  advisors.  At  any  rate 
Lincoln  was  President  with  a  program  of  his  own.  That 
night,  after  the  inharmonious  conference  at  the  White 
House,  an  important  decision  in  the  crisis  rested  directly 
and  heavily  upon  Lincoln.  "  Only  imagination  may  picture 
the  intense  and  weary  vigil  "of  this  crude  man  called  to  de- 
cide against  worthy  advice  so  momentous  a  question.^  By 
morning  he  had  definitely  decided  to  hold  both  forts.  He 
never  deviated  from  his  decision. 

Orders  were  issued  by  the  President  that  the  expedi- 
tions already  in  preparation  at  the  Brooklyn  navy-yard,  for 
the  relief  of  Pickens  and  Sumter,  should  sail  as  soon  as 
possible.  That  for  Pickens  was  ordered  to  set  out  on  April 
2nd;  that  for  Sumter,  April  6th. ^  The  yard  was  astir  with 
preparation.  Rumors  circulated  abroad  concerning  the 
destination  of  the  fleets.  Some  said  Sumter;  some,  Pickens; 
some,  the  Texas  coast;  some,  the  Mississippi  river;  and 
some  persistently  asserted  that  it  was  Santo  Domingo.* 

Southern  sympathizers  took  notes  and  sent  messages 
South.  "  A  formidable  armament  is  preparing  at  New 
York,"  wrote  one  man  in  Washington  to  the  Confederate 
secretary  of  war  in  Montgomery. 

They  have  2,600  men  ready  to  start  and  nearly  every  available 
ship  in  the  Navy  Yard  has  been  ordered  to  prepare  for  service 
.  .  .  although  it  is  rumored  that  the  expedition  is  for  Santo 
Domingo  to  repel  Ampudia's  invasion.  Key  West,  etc.,  yet  the 
opinion  of  the  best  informed  men  here  is  that  Pensacola  is  the 
P^oint  menaced,* 

^  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  v.  iii,  p.  394. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  pp.  226,  441. 
'  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  v.  iv,  p.  4. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  z^.       (Letter    of    L.     Q. 
Washington,  Apr.  6.) 


TfTE  FORT  PICKENS  TRUCE 


107 


Meanwhile  the  "  truce "  continued  on  Pensacola  bay. 
The  Confederate  war  department  on  March  9th  issued  a 
call  for  5,000  men  to  defend  Pensacola/  The  mobilization 
of  troops  from  Florida,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Georgia,  and 
Louisiana,  the  concentration  of  supplies  and  munitions  of 
war;  the  mounting  of  guns  in  sand  fortifications  and  at 
Forts  Barrancas  and  McRee ;  the  drilling  and  instruction  of 
the  green  volunteers ;  the  manufacture  of  shot  and  shell  in 
the  navy-yard  shops, — all  this  went  steadily  forward  regard- 
less of  the  status  quo  clause  of  the  Fort  Pickens  truce. ^ 
Colonel  Brown,  the  Federal  commander,  remarked,  as  he 
pointed  out  to  a  visitor  the  tall  chimneys  of  the  Pensacola 
navy-yard  from  which  rose  great  columns  of  black  smoke : 
"  There  is  the  whole  reason  for  Bragg's  forbearance,  as  it 
is  called.  Do  you  see?  They  are  casting  shot  and  shell 
there  as  fast  as  they  can."  *  The  Confederate  government 
was  wisely  utilizing  the  time  allowed  in  preparing  for  con- 
flict. Lieutenant  Slemmer  reported  on  March  30th  that 
"  Colonel  Chase  had  stopped  the  work  [the  erection  of  bat- 
teries], but  his  successors  have  continued  them  on  the  plea 
of  being  for  defensive  purposes."  * 

During  the  first  fifteen  days  of  April  a  rapid  concentration 
of  Confederate  troops  took  place  on  Pensacola  bay.  By 
the  last  day  of  March  the  total  number  of  soldiers  there 
was  1,116.^  By  the  end  of  the  second  week  of  April,  Gen- 
eral Bragg  reported  5,000  men  in  ranks.'    "  The  arrival  of 

'  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  135. 

*  Mobile  Advertiser,  Apr.  3,  1861 ;  Montgomery  Advertiser,  Mch.  3, 
i86i ;  A''.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  3,  6,  9,  10,  24,  1861.  Russell,  op.  cit.,  p.  218. 
Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  pp.  457,  458.  (Bragg's  report),  v.  52,  pt.  2, 
pp.  i-iso. 

*  Russell,  op.  cit.,  p.  218. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  365. 

8  Itid.,  p.  455-  "  Itid.,  p.  461. 


1 08  RECONSTR  UCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

so  many  troops  in  our  midst  looks  squally,"  stated  the 
Pensacola  Gazette  of  April  2nd. 

The  relief  expedition  for  Pickens  was  at  that  hour  sail- 
ing from  New  York.  Ten  days  later  Sumter  was  fired  on 
and  Pickens  reinforced. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  ordered 
through  General  Scott,  the  general-in-chief  of  the  army, 
that  Captain  Vogdes's  artillerymen  be  transferred  at  once 
from  the  ship  Brooklyn  to  Fort  Pickens.  The  order  from 
Scott  was  issued  March  12th,  and  sent  by  sea  to  the  fleet 
off  Pensacola.  There  it  arrived  on  March  31st,  after  delay 
due  to  storms.^  The  order  was  sent  by  Scott  and  not  the 
President.  Captain  Adams,  commanding  the  Brooklyn, 
was  acting  under  orders  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 
These  orders  forbade  him  to  land  troops  unless  Fort  Pick- 
ens was  attacked.  He  refused  to  obey  the  orders  of  Scott, 
who  as  an  army  officer  had  no  authority  in  the  navy. 
"  Such  a  step  is  too  important  to  be  taken  without  the  clear- 
est orders  from  proper  authority,"  stated  Captain  Adams 
in  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  "  It  would  be 
viewed  as  a  hostile  act  and  would  be  resisted  to  the  utmost. 
No  one  acquainted  with  the  military  assembled  under  Gen- 
eral Bragg  can  doubt  that  it  would  be  considered  not  only 
a  declaration,  but  an  act  of  war."  ^ 

Adams  was  acting  in  accord  with  the  Fort  Pickens  truce 
of  the  Buchanan  administration. 

Lincoln,  in  the  meantime,  was  without  news  from  Flor- 
ida.* Telegraph  and  mail  service  were  controlled  by  the 
secessionists.  Expeditions  were  preparing  to  sail  from 
New  York  harbor  for  Charleston  and  Pensacola.     When 

1  Scharf,  J.  T.,  op.  cit.,  p.  605.    Letter  of  Capt.  Vogdes. 

•  Ibid.,  pp.  604-605. 

'  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  v.  iv,  p.  7. 


THE  FORT  PICKENS  TRUCE 


109 


news  should  reach  the  South  that  the  administration  in- 
tended suddenly  to  break  the  Fort  Pickens  truce  to  its  own 
advantage,  war  would  quickly  follow;  and  Lincoln  had  no 
reason  to  believe  that  Fort  Pickens  could  withstand  a  sud- 
den assault  by  more  than  ten  times  its  garrison. 

On  April  6th,  the  day  that  the  Fort  Pickens  relief  expe- 
dition sailed  and  three  days  before  the  one  for  Sumter  was 
ordered  to  set  out,  a  special  messenger,  from  Pensacola, 
reached  the  navy  department.  "  On  being  ushered  into 
the  Secretary's  presence  while  yet  dusty  and  travel-worn  he 
unstrapped  a  belt  from  his  garments  and  took  out  an  official 
dispatch  from  the  fleet  off  Pensacola,  which  by  journeying 
day  and  night  he  had  brought  over  Southern  railroads  from 
Florida  to  Washington."  ^  Pickens  was  not  reinforced. 
The  relief  fleet  had  sailed  for  Florida.  Should  the  Confed- 
erate authorities  learn  that  the  truce  was  broken,  the  Fed- 
eral work  on  Pensacola  bay  would  be  taken  by  storm.  The 
blunder  of  sending  orders  for  a  naval  officer  from  the  war 
department  was  apparent.  The  problem  before  the  Wash- 
ington government  was  to  get  authoritative  orders  to 
Adams  before  Bragg  should  learn  of  the  change  in  policy. 

"  Prompt  action  was  all-important,"  wrote  Secretary- 
Welles, 

for  the  rebellion  was  rapidly  culminating  and  the  hesitancy  of 
Captain  Adams  had  caused  a  delay  which  had  endangered  the 
possession  of  Santa  Rosa  Island  and  the  safety  of  Fort 
Pickens.  But  in  the  general  demoralization  and  suspicion 
which  pervaded  Washington,  who  was  to  be  trusted  with  this 
important  mission?  It  was  then  half  past  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  and  the  messenger  must  depart  by  the  mail  train 
which  left  that  evening.^ 

*  Ihid.  See  also  account  of  Scharf,  op.  cit.,  pp.  604-7.  The  officer 
was  Lieut.  Gwatney,  of  Va.,  who  afterwards  resigned  to  serve  the  Con- 
federacy. 

*  Diary  of  Gideon  Welles,  v.  i,  p.  30. 


1 1  o  RECONSTR  UCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Lieutenant  John  L.  Worden  was  entrusted  by  Welles  with 
this  delicate  task  which  to  be  effective  must  be  performed 
swiftly. 

Worden  was  given  written  instructions  from  the  Presi- 
dent for  the  immediate  landing  of  troops.  He  committed 
his  instructions  to  memory,  destroyed  the  original, '^  and 
taking  the  first  train  South  (April  7th)  arrived  in  Pensa- 
cola  on  the  morning  of  the  iith.^  There,  after  a  personal 
interview  with  General  Bragg,  he  obtained  from  him  a 
written  passport  to  go  aboard  the  United  States  ship 
Sabine  lying  in  the  harbor.  He  stated  to  Bragg  that 
he  had  no  orders  from  Washington. 

A  heavy  sea  was  running,  and  therefore  the  Sabine  rode 
at  anchor  until  next  day,  April  12th,  when  she  put  out  to  sea 
and  near  midday  Lieutenant  Worden  was  aboard  Captain 
Adams's  flagship,  the  Wyandotte.  He  delivered  his  orders 
orally,  put  them  in  writing,  signed  them,  and  then  returned 
to  shore.  A  few  hours  later,  about  dark,  a  telegram  came  to 
Bragg  from  the  Confederate  war  department  at  Mont- 
gomery, as  follows :  "  Lieut.  Worden  of  the  U.  S.  Navy 
has  gone  to  Pensacola  with  dispatches.  Intercept  them."  * 
Bragg  replied  by  telegraph: 

Mr.  Worden  had  communicated  with  the  fleet  before  your  dis- 
patches received.  Alarm  guns  have  just  been  fired  at  Fort 
Pickens.  I  fear  the  news  is  received  and  it  will  be  re-inforced 
before  morning.  It  cannot  be  prevented.  Mr.  Worden  got 
off  in  the  cars  before  I  knew  of  his  landing.  Major  Cham- 
bers is  in  the  cars.  He  will  watch  Mr.  Worden's  movements. 
If  you  deem  it  advisable,  Mr.  Worden  can  be  stopped  at 
Montgomery.  ^ 

1  Diary  of  Gideon  Welles,  v.  i,  p.  30. 

»  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  v.  iv,  p.  7 ;  Scharf,  op.  cit.,  pp.  606-609. 

•  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  462;  Scharf,  op.  cit.,  p.  607. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  459.  '  Ibid.,  p.  459. 


THE  FORT  PICKENS  TRUCE  III 

The  following  day  he  telegraphed :  "Reinforcements  thrown 
into  Fort  Pickens  last  night  by  small  boats  from  the  out- 
side." ' 

Sumter  was  attacked  the  day  on  which  Worden  delivered 
his  dispatch.  The  Fort  Pickens  truce  was  broken.  The 
margin  of  time  for  the  messenger  had  been  narrow.  The 
messenger  himself  was  arrested  in  Montgomery  on  his  re- 
turn journey  from  Pensacola.  "  He  was  among  the  first, 
if  not  the  very  first,  prisoners  of  war  captured  by  the  rebels," 
states  Welles.  Worden  was  exchanged  and  became  the 
commander  of  the  ironclad  Monitor.^ 

General  Bragg  stated  with  some  feeling  that  Worden 
had  lied  to  him  to  obtain  his  passport  and  that  the  re- 
inforcement of  Pickens  was  a  violation  of  the  truce 
formally  entered  upon  by  Federal  government  and  seceded 
states.*  Bragg's  statements  were  substantially  true,  but  the 
episodes  to  which  he  referred  were  only  culminating  inci- 
dents in  the  process  of  breaking  the  truce.  The  Confed- 
erate war  department  three  weeks  earlier  knew  that  Lincoln 
had  decided  to  disregard  under  cover  the  Buchanan  pledges. 
Thereupon  the  Confederate  administration  sought  to  ad- 
just itself  to  the  situation  by  also  secretly  disregarding  the 
truce.  A  spy  in  Washington  informed  Secretary  Walker 
in  a  letter  of  March  20th  that 

several  gentlemen  connected  with  the  Government  and  who 
are  in  the  way  of  getting  reliable  intelligence  and  whom  I 
have  always  found  better  informed  than  any  one  of  my  ac- 
quaintance, tell  me  to-day  that  they  have  information  which 
satisfied  them  the  Government  here   [Washington]   means  to 

1  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  460. 

*  Diary  of  Gideon  Welles,  v.  i,  p.  31.    Worden  commanded  the  Mon- 
itor in  her  memorable  battle  at  Hampton  Roads  with  the  Merrimac. 

•  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  pp.  461-463. 


112  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

reinforce  Fort  Pickens.  These  gentlemen  have  not  confided 
to  me  their  sources  of  information,  but  I  have  the  highest  con* 
fidence  in  their  facilities  of  getting  information  and  I  attach 
great  weight  to  what  they  tell  me.  Their  belief  is  that  the  re- 
inforcement will  take  place  soon.  I  am  aware  that  there  is  an 
engagement  to  the  contrary  on  the  part  of  the  Government, 
but  I  do  not  place  any  reliance  on  their  promises.  They  will 
find  some  excuse  for  a  violation  of  the  stipulation.  One  of 
the  possible  steps  of  this  Government  may  be  to  direct  vessels 
at  sea  with  troops  to  make  the  harbor  of  Pensacola  by  a  given 
night  and  land  men  and  munitions  at  Fort  Pickens.^ 

General  Bragg  stated  to  Secretary  Walker  a  few  days  later : 

Believing,  myself,  that  the  United  States  Government  and 
some  of  its  agents  are  acting  in  bad  faith  toward  us,  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  believe  that  we  are  entirely  absolved  from  all  ob- 
ligations under  the  agreement  of  the  29th  of  January.* 

The  messages  throw  light  upon  the  enigmatical  tele- 
Montgomery,  on  April  9th.  It  ran :  "  Captain  Boggs  left 
gram  which  Bragg  received  from  Secretary  Walker  at 
this  morning  to  join  you.  $40,000  are  at  your  disposal 
to  be  used  in  the  way  he  suggested  to  me  as  coming  from 
you.  Although  he  received  no  instructions  on  the  point,  as 
it  escaped  me  in  the  hurry  of  departure,  you  will  however 
understand."  *  The  commander  at  Pensacola  replied  to 
this  immediately  as  follows :  "  Shall  try  the  use  of  money 
but  great  vigilance  is  exercised.  They  fear  their  own 
men. 

A  few  days  later  Lieutenant  Slemmer  in  Fort  Pickens 
learned  that  many  letters  were  passing  between  the  fort  and 

1  Oif.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  27  (L.  Q.  Washington,  the 
spy). 

*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  I,  pp.  456-457. 

» Ibid.,  p.  459.  *  Ibid. 


THE  FORT  PICKENS  TRUCE 


113 


the  village  of  Warrenton  across  the  channel.  His  suspi- 
cions were  aroused,  and  he  intercepted  and  opened  the  mail. 
One  letter  was  as  follows : 

If  you  will  help  us  along  to  save  bloodshed,  I  can  offer  any 
private  in  the  company  $500  and  any  non-commissioned 
officer  $1,000  too,  with  a  guarantee  of  future  promotion 
as  high  or  higher,  as  he  now  stands.  Every  man  who  will 
take  upon  themselves  to  give  us  the  fort  without  bloodshed 
and  save  the  lives  of  your  garrison  will  be  well  paid — all  back 
pay,  $500  for  privates,  $1,000  for  non-commissioned  officers, 
and  a  commission  in  the  Confederate  Army.  This  Broady  I 
offer  you  from  high  authority — don't  be  a  damn  fool.  When 
and  where  can  I  see  you  ?  ^ 

On  the  morning  of  April  13th,  a  private,  McGarr,  of  the 
1st  Artillery,  stated  to  Lieutenant  Slemmer  that  during  the 
night  four  men  crossed  the  channel  and  engaged  him  in 
conversation.  They  said  that  they  would  give  any  man 
plenty  of  money  if  he  would  only  spike  the  flank  defense 
guns.  "  How  are  you  off  for  money  in  the  forts  ?  "  they 
asked.  McGarr  claimed  that  he  replied :  "  We  have  not 
been  paid  for  six  months."  Thereupon  one  of  them  thrust 
a  roll  of  bills  into  the  sentry's  hands  and  told  him :  "  Give 
that  to  them."  ^ 

These  facts  speak  for  themselves  and  clearly  indicate 
the  policy  and  intentions  of  the  Confederate  war  depart- 
ment before  the  Worden  episode.  Duplicity  on  the  part 
of  the  Lincoln  administration  induced  counter  duplicity 
South. ^    Bragg  should  not  have  let  Worden  pass  him. 

The  delivery  of  Worden's  message  from  Washington 
caused  Captain  Adams  to  send  ashore  promptly  the  200 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  388. 
'Ibid.,  pp.  388-389. 
» Ibid.,  pp.  395-399- 


1 14  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

artillerymen  under  Captain  Vogdes,  Four  days  later 
(April  i6th),  the  relief  expedition  from  the  Brooklyn 
navy-yard  arrived.  A  thousand  men  were  soon  in  Fort 
Pickens.  The  crews  of  the  Federal  war-ships  Sabine, 
Brooklyn,  Powhatan,  and  Wyandotte,  raised  the  total  force 
to  2,017  men.  The  opportunity  to  take  Pickens  by  storm 
had  passed.^ 

Sumter  was  attacked  on  April  12th.  The  Virginia  con- 
vention passed  its  ordinance  of  secession  April  17th.  Col- 
onel Brown,  the  new  commander  at  Fort  Pickens,  follow- 
ing closely  the  development  of  national  troubles,  sent  a 
message  of  warning  to  the  commander  at  Fort  Jefferson 
on  Tortugas  keys  to  prepare  for  assault.^  Brown  feared 
that  the  seizure  of  the  Gosport  navy-yard  in  Virginia  would 
involve  the  capture  of  Federal  war-ships  there,  and  that 
the  Confederacy  would  promptly  utilize  this  fleet  in  South- 
ern waters.  General  Scott  had  stated  to  Brown  that  "  the 
fortresses  on  the  Florida  reefs  are  deemed  of  greater  im- 
portance than  even  Fort  Pickens."  *  Fortunately  for  the 
Union  no  ships  ready  for  service  were  included  in  the  Gos- 
port navy-yard  seizure.* 

During  these  weeks  of  early  spring,  a  Confederate  army 
was  in  process  of  mobilization  on  Pensacola  bay.  Alabama 
had  been  the  first  state  to  send  troops  into  Florida — early 
in  January.  °  Then  followed  militia  from  Mississippi, 
Louisiana,  and  Georgia,  in  the  order  named.     These  state 

'  Scharf  (op.  cit.,  pp.  606-607)  states  that  "Gen.  Bragg  was  to  have 
made  an  attack  upon  Pickens  the  night  following  that  on  which  the 
fort  was  reinforced."  He  does  not  give  his  authority  for  this  state- 
ment. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  392. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  366. 

*  Rhodes,  U.  S.,  v.  iii,  p.  364. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  36th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  87,  p.  55,  Jan.  nth. 


THE  FORT  PICKENS  TRUCE  II5 

troops  were  mustered  into  Confederate  service  soon  after 
the  creation  by  law  of  the  Confederate  army.  They  and 
the  Florida  levies  constituted  the  "  Army  of  Pensacola  ". 
By  May  ist,  this  army  was  more  than  5,000  strong,^  a 
rather  heterogeneous  mass  of  healthy,  bearded,  optimistic 
and  active  volunteers  from  the  interior,  mostly. 

Their  tents  dotted  the  groves  and  open  spaces  between 
the  navy-yard  and  Barrancas.  At  night,  their  camp  fires 
of  pine  made  a  band  of  light  along  the  western  edge  of  the 
harbor's  mouth.  "  The  Mississippians  are  encamped  in  a 
very  pretty  location  in  the  pine  woods,  within  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  of  the  bay,  and  with  a  fine  stream  of  fresh  water 
flowing  through  the  camp,"  stated  a  Southern  correspond- 
ent **  Their  encampment  presents  a  very  picturesque  as- 
pect and  is  quite  en  regie  in  all  its  arrangements."  ^ 

The  regiments  included  French-American  Creole  troops, 
arrayed  as  zouaves,  chasseurs,  etc.,  with  gorgeous,  easy 
uniforms  of  Gallic  temperament ;  Black-Belt  planter  militia 
with  plainer  clothing  and  company  names  fiercely  pictures- 
que, as  "  De  Soto  Irrepressibles  ",  "  Southern  Avengers  ", 
"  Senatobie  Invincibles " ;  and  lastly,  riflemen  from  the 
piney  woods,  who  were  termed  "  kasions  "  and  "  crack- 
ers ",  who  supplied  a  tradition  at  least  of  sharp-shooting, 
and  who  expressed  themselves  as  frank  haters  of  the 
"  damn-Yankee  ".» 

This  army  was  being  licked  into  shape  by  officers  who 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  461.  By  the  last  of  April  the  South- 
ern regiments  on  Pensacola  bay  were  1st  and  2nd  Ala.  Infy. ;  1st  and 
2nd  Miss.  Infy.;  ist  Ga.  Infy.;  ist  Fla  Infy.,  and  several  battalions 
and  unattached  companies  from  La.,  Miss.,  Ga.,  Ala.,  and  Fla.  New 
Orleans  Delta  (Apr.  27),  put  the  total  number  of  troops  at  6,708 
(1,826  Mississippians,  1,400  Alabamians,  1,100  Georgians,  1,134  Louis- 
ianians,  620  Floridians,  and  misc.  forces,  organized  in  three  divisions). 

'  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  ii,  p.  187,    Apr.  27,  1861. 

•  See  letters  in  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  7,  9,  1861. 


1 1 6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

had  seen  active  service  in  the  Mexican  War,  or  in  Euro- 
pean wars.^  "  The  companies  were  industriously  drilled 
upon  the  deep  sand  of  the  shore,  almost  blinding  in  its  glit- 
tering whiteness,  and  the  men  feasted  on  fish  and  oysters. 
.  .  .  There  was  regimental  dress  parade  in  the  evenings, 
guard  mountings  in  the  mornings,  and  reveille  became  a 
familiar  early  morning  call  to  the  unwilling  ears  of  the 
drowsy  soldiers."  ^ 

A  portion  of  the  supplies  for  this  army  came  at  first  by 
boat  into  Pensacola  bay,  and  later  by  wagon  across  coun- 
try, from  Blakely,  Alabama,  or  by  wagon  along  a  shorter 
route  from  Perdido  bay.^  Hospital  facilities  were  excel- 
lent. The  well-equipped  Federal  marine  hospital  was  util- 
ized. After  the  first  few  weeks  of  camp  life  the  raw  re- 
cruit was  apt  to  sicken.  Catholic  sisters  of  charity  did 
good  work  in  nursing  the  sick.  The  death-rate  was  low. 
Eggs,  vegetables,  poultry,  butter,  and  milk  for  the  conval- 
escent came  in  sufficient  quantities  from  the  neighboring 
country.* 

Highly-colored  reports  of  disorder,  of  insubordination, 
and  of  drunkenness  in  the  Confederate  camp  were  spread 
abroad  by  the  enterprising  Northern  press  and  nearby 
Union  soldiers  in  letters  home."  Liquor  was  consumed  in 
some  quantities,  and  toughs  might  have  enlivened  life  until 

*  Russell,  Diary;  Confed.  Mil.  Hist.,  passim. 

*  McFarland,  B.,  "  A  Forgotten  Expedition,"  Miss.  Hist.  Soc,  v.  ix, 
p.  20.  Judge  McFarland  was  with  his  regiment  from  Mississippi  on 
Pensacola  bay. 

*  Pensacola  Observer,  Aug.  8,  1861.  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt. 
2,  pp.  II,  44-45. 

*  N.  Y.  Herald,  Aug.  31,  1861,  letter  of  Gen.  Bragg. 

*  For  instance,  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  10,  May  6,  May  13,  Nov.  26,  1861. 
Moore,  Rehell  Red.,  v.  iii,  p.  70.  Two  men  executed  for  insubordina- 
tion and  murder. 


THE  FORT  PICKENS  TRUCE 


117 


restrained — which  was  soon.  For  a  short  time  there  seems 
to  have  been  practiced  an  indiscriminate  firing  of  guns  by 
those  off  duty.  These  violators  of  military  regulations 
were  "  practicing  for  the  damn- Yankees  ".  They  claimed 
that  they  were  accustomed  to  such  "  target  practice  at 
home  ".  In  October,  peremptory  orders  forbade  target- 
practice  and  patrols  gathered  up  offenders.^  At  the  same 
time  an  order  was  issued  by  General  Bragg  restricting  the 
number  of  camp  servants.  The  slave-holding  planter-sol- 
dier found  it  difficult  at  first  to  get  on  without  his  black 
body-servant.  One  man  on  Pensacola  bay  is  reported  by 
the  New  York  Herald  to  have  summed-up  the  situation 
thus :  "  The  very  thing  we  are  fighting  for  is  the  privilege 
of  doing  what  we  please  with  our  niggers,  and  if  we  are 
denied  that  right  here  at  home  we  are  deprived  of  one  of 
the  strongest  inducements  to  fight."  ^ 

Some  observers  have  left  more  favorable  estimates  of 
the  Southern  volunteers  composing  the  Army  of  Pensa- 
cola. "  I  do  not  believe  that  a  better  and  more  efficient 
body  of  fighting  men  could  be  assembled  in  any  part  of  the 
world,"  stated  the  enthusiastic  correspondent  of  the  New 
Orleans  Delta.  "  They  compose  the  very  best  class  of  our 
Southern  people — ardent,  earnest,  and  resolute  young  men. 
They  can  never  be  conquered  or  even  defeated;  they  may 
be  destroyed  or  annihilated."  ^ 

An  English  newspaper  correspondent  has  left  in  his  diary 
a  description  of  the  Confederate  and  Federal  fortifications 
and  forces  facing  each  other  at  this  time  on  Pensacola  bay. 
He  spent  two  days  there  in  May,  and  was  allowed  by  the 

1  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  751.     See  reference  to  discipline  in 
Long,  Florida  Breezes,  p.  332. 
» N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  26,  1861. 
'  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  ii,  p.  187. 


Il8  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

commanders  of  each  army  great  freedom  in  examining 
camps  and  forts.     He  writes: 

As  we  got  abreast  of  Fort  Pickens,  I  ordered  table-cloth  No.  i 
to  be  hoisted  to  the  peak,  and  through  the  glass  I  saw  that 
our  appearance  attracted  no  ordinary  attention  from  the  gar- 
rison of  Pickens,  close  at  hand  on  our  right,  and  the  more 
distant  Confederates  at  Fort  McRee  and  the  sand  hills  on 
the  left.  The  latter  fort  (McRee)  is  weak  and  badly  built, 
quite  under  the  command  of  Pickens,  but  is  supported  by  the 
old  Spanish  fort  of  Barrancas  upon  high  ground  further  in- 
land, and  by  numerous  batteries  at  the  water-line.  .  .  .  The 
wind  was  light  but  the  tide  bore  us  toward  the  Confederate 
works.  Arms  glanced  in  the  blazing  sun  where  regiments 
were  engaged  in  drill;  clouds  of  dust  rose  from  the  sandy 
roads;  horsemen  riding  along  the  beach;  groups  of  men  in 
uniform  gave  a  martial  appearance  to  the  place  in  unison  with 
the  black  muzzles  of  the  guns  which  peeped  from  the  white 
sand  batteries  from  the  entrance  of  the  harbor  to  the  Navy 
Yard,  now  close  at  hand.  ...  At  last  the  Captain  let  go  his 
anchor  off  the  end  of  a  wooden  jetty  which  was  crowded  with 
ammunition,  shot,  shell,  cases  of  provisions,  and  commissary 
stores.  .  .  .  The  Navy  Yard  is  surrounded  by  a  high  wall, 
the  gates  closely  guarded  by  sentries.  .  .  .  Inside  there  was 
the  greatest  activity  and  life — Zouaves,  Chasseurs,  and  all 
kinds  of  military  eccentricities  were  drilling,  parading,  exer- 
cising, sitting  in  the  shade,  loading  tumbrills,  playing  cards,  or 
sleeping  on  the  grass.  Tents  were  pitched  under  the  trees  and 
on  the  little  lawns  and  grass-covered  quadrangles.  .  .  .  From 
the  naval  arsenal  quantities  of  shot  and  shell  are  constantly 
pouring  to  the  batteries.  Piles  of  cannon  balls  dot  the  ground, 
but  the  only  ordnance  I  saw  were  two  old  mortars  placed  as 
ornaments  in  the  avenue,  one  dated  1776. 

The  Quartermaster  conducted  me  through  shady  walks 
into  one  of  the  houses,  then  into  a  long  room,  and  presented 
me,  en  masse,  to  a  body  of  officers,  mostly  belonging  to  a 
Zouave  regiment,  from  New  Orleans,  who  were  seated  at  a 


THE  FORT  PICKENS  TRUCE 


119 


very  comfortable  dinner,  with  an  abundance  of  champagne, 
claret,  beer,  and  ice.  They  were  all  young  and  full  of  life, 
and  spirits,  except  three  or  four  grave  and  older  men  who 
were  Europeans.  One,  a  Dane,  had  fought  against  the  Prus- 
sians and  Schleswig-Holsteiners,  at  Idstadt,  and  Fredrick- 
stadt;  and  another,  an  Italian,  seemed  to  have  engaged  indif- 
ferently in  fighting  all  over  the  South  American  continent;  a 
third,  a  Pole,  had  been  at  Comoru,  and  had  participated  in  the 
Revolution  of  1848.  From  these  officers  I  learned  that  Mr. 
Jefferson  Davis,  his  wife,  Mr.  Wigfall,  and  Mr.  Mallory,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy,  had  come  down  from  Montgomery  and 
had  been  visiting  the  works  all  day.  Everyone  here  believes 
the  attack  so  long  threatened  is  to  come  off  at  last  and  at  once. 

.  .  .  (The  next  day.)  From  headquarters  we  started  on 
our  tour  of  inspection  of  the  batteries.  Certainly  anything 
more  calculated  to  shake  the  confidence  in  American  journal- 
ism could  not  be  seen,  for  I  had  been  led  to  believe  that  the 
works  were  of  the  most  formidable  description,  mounting 
hundreds  of  guns.  Where  hundreds  were  written,  tens  would 
have  been  nearer  the  truth.  I  visited  ten  out  of  the  thirteen 
batteries  which  General  Bragg  had  erected  against  Fort 
Pickens.  I  saw  but  5  heavy  siege  guns  in  the  whole  of  the 
works  among  the  50  or  55  pieces  with  which  they  were  armed. 
There  might  be  about  80  altogether  on  the  lines  which  de- 
scribe an  arc  of  135  degrees  for  about  three  miles  around 
Pickens,  at  an  average  distance  of  one  and  one-third  miles. 

.  .  .  The  working  parties  as  they  were  called — volunteers 
from  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  great  long-bearded  fellows  in 
flannel  shirts  and  slouched  hats,  uniformless  in  all  save! 
brightly  burnished  arms  and  resolute  purpose  —  were  lying 
about  among  the  works. 

Altogether,  I  was  quite  satisfied  that  General  Bragg  was 
perfectly  correct  in  refusing  to  open  lire  on  Fort  Pickens  and 
on  the  fleet,  which  ought  certainly  to  have  wrecked  his  work 
about  his  ears. 

I  had  heard  during  my  sojourn  in  the  North,  that  the  South- 
ern people  were  exceedingly  illiterate  and  ignorant.     It  may 


I20  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

be  so,  but  I  am  bound  to  say  that  I  observed  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  soldiers  on  their  way  to  the  Navy  Yard  engaged  in 
reading  newspapers,  though  they  did  not  neglect  the  various 
drinking  bars  and  exchanges,  which  were  only  too  numerous 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  camps.^ 

From  the  Confederate  encampment  on  the  mainland,  Mr. 
Russell  crossed  to  Fort  Pickens  (on  Santa  Rosa  Island), 
and  there  he  was  allowed  to  inspect  troops  and  fortifica- 
tions.   "  The  outer  gate  was  closed,"  he  writes, 

but  at  a  talismanic  knock  from  Captain  Barry  we  passed 
through  a  vaulted  gallery  into  the  parade  ground,  which  was 
full  of  men  engaged  in  strengthening  the  place  and  digging 
deep  pits  in  the  center  as  shell-traps.  The  men  were  United 
States  regulars,  and  not  comparable  in  physique  to  the  South- 
ern volunteers,  but  infinitely  superior  in  cleanliness  and  sol- 
dierly smartness. 

Fort  Pickens  is  an  oblique  and  somewhat  narrow  parallelo- 
gram. The  guns  were  what  is  considered  small  calibre  in 
these  days — 32  and  42  pounders,  with  4  or  5  heavy  columbiads. 
An  immense  amount  of  work  has  been  done  within  the  last 
three  weeks,  but  as  yet  the  preparations  are  by  no  means  com- 
plete. 

On  the  whole,  I  should  prefer  to  be  inside  than  outside 
Pickens,  in  case  of  bombardment,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  entire  destruction  of  the  Navy  Yard  and  station  by 
the  Federals  can  be  accomplished  whenever  they  please.^ 

This  estimate  of  Federal  superiority  was  not  the  popular 
one  in  the  vicinity.  People  traveled  long  distances  to  Pen- 
sacola  "  to  watch  the  fun  " — as  on  a  holiday.  "  140  guns 
converging  on  any  one  point  for  60  hours  would  drive  the 
Devil  from  his  hole,"  stated  the  Mobile  Advertiser,  in  com- 
menting on  the  situation.  May  12th. 

'  Russell,  op.  cit.  »  Russell,  op.  cit. 


THE  FORT  PICKENS  TRUCE  12 1 

Although  the  battle  between  the  forts  was  expected  daily, 
General  Bragg  is  credited  by  Russell  with  the  statement  on 
May  14th  that  he  had  no  intention  of  attacking  Pickens. 
Subsequent  history  bears  out  the  truth  of  this  assertion. 
The  fort,  however,  continued  to  be  a  cause  of  concern  for 
many  months.  Mr.  John  Jacob  Astor,  of  New  York,  as 
chairman  of  a  "  Citizens'  Committee  "  for  the  purchase  of 
arms  and  ammunition,  advised  Secretary  of  War  Cameron 
to  forward  more  arms  and  ammunition  at  once  to  Pickens. 
The  Secretary  replied  that  the  war  department  could  attend 
to  its  own  affairs.^ 

Spring  passed  and  the  terrific  heat  of  a  far-southern 
summer  enveloped  the  Florida  coast.  The  conflict  had 
begun  in  earnest  elsewhere,  but  on  Pensacola  bay  there  was 
no  firing.  Sickness  increased  in  Federal  ranks.  In  June 
(24th)  the  transport  Vanderbilt  arrived  with  the  first  vol- 
unteers for  the  Federal  force  on  Santa  Rosa  island.  The 
troops  were  the  6th  New  York  Zouave  Infantry.  They 
were  commanded  by  Colonel  "  Billy  "  Wilson,  bald-headed, 
sharp-eyed,  self-assertive,  and  generally  vigorous,  with  a 
heavy  black  mustache  and  a  cigar  usually  stuck  at  an  up- 
turned angle  in  the  corner  of  his  mouth.  His  command  be- 
came known  as  the  "  Pet  Lambs  ".  They  were  reputed  to 
be  in  large  part  toughs  and  touts  recruited  from  the  east 
side  of  New  York  City.  They  were  more  given  at  first  to 
fighting  among  themselves  than  fighting  the  enemy.  ^ 

By  midsummer  the  blockade  had  effectually  stopped  all 
shipping  from  Pensacola  and  other  Florida  ports.  ^  Many 
of  the  white  inhabitants  of  Pensacola  had  moved  into  the 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebel!.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  414. 

«  N.  Y.  Herald,  July  26,  Aug.  17,  1861.    N.  Y.  Times,  Jan.  28,  1862. 
'  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  pp.  409,  413.    N.  Y.  Herald,  May  27, 
June  23,  1861.    Naval  Records,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  90. 


122  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

interior,  taking  their  slaves  with  them/  The  majority  of 
the  younger  men  were  in  the  Confederate  army.  The 
hamlets  of  Woolsey  and  Warrenton  near  the  navy-yard 
were  likewise  deserted.^ 

Summer  gave  way  to  autumn,  and  still  no  combat  had 
taken  place  in  West  Florida.  The  "  Sebastopol  of  Amer- 
ica "  ^  was  almost  as  quiet  as  a  country  grave-yard.  Tropi- 
cal storms,  with  thunder  and  lightning  and  rain,  occasion- 
ally swept  over  the  crouching  armies,  and  the  up-country 
recruit  became  sick  of  fish  and  hardened  to  the  sad  mono- 
tone of  the  Gulf  surf.  The  tide  of  conflict  had  drifted  far 
North. 

But  the  mobilization  of  troops  on  Pensacola  bay  was  not 
devoid  of  effect,  probably  important  effect.  "  It  was  re- 
garded at  the  time  as  of  significant  importance,  aroused 
great  interest  and  enthusiasm,  and  was  the  subject  of  wide 
and  excited  comment  at  home  and  abroad,"  writes  a  vet- 
eran who  entered  upon  the  War  in  the  Army  of  Pensacola.* 

It  strengthened  the  determination  and  increased  the  confidence 
of  the  people  all  over  the  South,  and  was  everywhere  regarded 
as  a  test  of  the  spirit,  devotion  and  purpose  of  her  people. 
It  was  the  first  aggressive  movement  in  which  the  Southern 
States  acted  in  concert,  and  dispelled  all  doubt  as  to  their 
future  co-operation.  The  moral  effect  greatly  exceeded  in 
value  and  importance  all  other  resulting  physical  advantages. 

^  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  6,  Sep.  30,  1861. 
» N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  6,  1861. 

*  A''.  Y.  World,  Apr.  6,  1861.    This  term  was  frequently  employed  by 
the  journals  in  referring  to  Pensacola  bay. 

*  McFarland,  B.,  Miss.  Hist.  Soc,  v.  ix,  pp.  21-23. 


BOOK  II 
THE  CIVIL  WAR 

"  What  is  all  this  for  ?  Why  this  array  of  armies  ?  Why  this  fierce 
meeting  in  mortal  combat  ?  What  is  all  this  carnage  and  slaughter  for  ? 
Why  the  prolongation  of  this  conflict?  Why  this  lamentation  and 
mourning  going  up  from  almost  every  house  and  family  from  Maine 
to  the  Rio  Grande,  and  from  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  to  the  Lakes,  for 
friends  and  dear  ones  who  have  fallen  by  disease  and  violence  in  this 
unparalleled  struggle?  The  question  if  replied  to  by  the  North  can 
have  but  one  answer." — Alexander  H.  Stephens,  1863,  Mess,  and 
Papers  of  the  Confed.,  v.  i,  p.  175. 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Beginning  of  Hostilities  in  Florida 

Across  the  channel  from  Pickens  the  batteries  of  the 
Confederate  army  stretched  in  a  majestic  curve  for  more 
than  two  miles.^  The  western  rim  of  the  lower  bay  sparkled 
at  night  with  the  myriad  lights  of  camp  fires.  The  rank  and 
file  of  both  armies  awaited  with  grim  impatience  the  open- 
ing of  hostilities.  "  In  our  camp  there  is  an  unusual  degree 
of  excitement,"  wrote  a  Union  correspondent  from  the  Fed- 
eral encampment  on  Santa  Rosa  island.  "  Although  we 
could  not  take  a  very  active  part  while  the  bombardment 
lasted,  yet  we  longed  for  the  fray  to  commence."  ^ 

Near  the  navy-yard  was  anchored  the  huge  "  million  dol- 
lar dry  dock  ".  It  had  been  acquired  by  the  secessionists  on 
the  surrender  of  the  yard.  The  first  offensive  movement  of 
the  Federal  military  was  directed  against  this  very  valuable 
piece  of  property.  It  lay  with  an  insufficient  guard  under 
the  guns  of  both  Pickens  and  the  Confederate  batteries. 
Preparations  were  completed  on  September  ist  for  its  de- 
struction, but  the  "  night  came  cloudless  ",  records  a  Federal 
soldier — 

the  heavens  lit  up  by  a  host  of  stars  looked  beautiful  beyond 
description.  The  shore  opposite  was  plainly  visible  and  the 
entire  enterprise  seemed  too  hazardous,  as  in  the  planning  of 
it  a  darker  night  had  been  looked  for.  Upon  consultation  it 
was  thought  best  to  wait  till  the  following  night  [September 

1  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  6. 

'  Moore,  Rehell.  Red.,  v.  3,  p.  117. 

125 


126  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

2nd].  All  day  Monday  a  strong  wind  blew  from  off  the  Gulf; 
rain  was  expected  but  none  fell.  Night  came  and  the  sky  was 
cloudy.  A  few  minutes  after  "  tattoo "  Lieut.  Shipley  left 
the  beach  in  front  of  the  fort  in  a  boat  with  eleven  picked 
men,  rowing  noiselessly  for  the  dry  dock.^ 

They  clambered  aboard  and  found  no  one  there  to  op- 
pose them.  Combustibles  and  inflammable  material  were 
put  into  the  hold  of  the  dock;  the  torch  was  applied;  and 
the  boat's  crew  withdrew.  "  As  the  first  streak  of  flame 
mounted  upward  the  long  roll  sounded  at  the  navy-yard, 
the  soldiers  stationed  there  turned  out  in  haste,  and  every- 
thing was  wild  confusion — but  not  a  shot  was  fired  ",  stated 
a  recording  witness  on  Santa  Rosa  island.  "  Meanwhile  the 
whole  sky  was  illumined  by  the  tall  spires  of  flame  which 
sprang  upward  from  the  burning  dock."  ^  This  stroke 
under  Confederate  guns  was  soon  followed  by  a  bolder  one. 

At  three-thirty  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  September 
14th,  three  launches  from  the  Federal  warship  Colorado 
succeeded  in  reaching,  undetected,  the  side  of  the  armed 
Confederate  schooner  Judah,  which  was  moored  at  the 
docks  under  the  guns  of  the  navy-yard  batteries.'  The  at- 
tacking party  was  almost  aboard  before  discovered.  A 
savage  hand-to-hand  fight  with  the  Confederate  crew  gave 
them  possession  of  the  craft.  The  rumble  of  the  long  roll 
soon  awoke  the  Confederate  encampment,  but  those  on 
shore  could  not  distinguish  friend  from  foe  on  the  dark  and 
smoking  deck  of  the  Judah.  The  ship  was  set  afire,  and 
while  the  Southern  drums  were  beating  lustily  the  Federal 
blue- jackets  quickly  withdrew  in  their  cutters  to  the  pro- 
tecting gloom  of  the  Gulf  beyond  the  circle  of  light  made  by 

*  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  3,  p.  117. 

*  Ibid.,  V.  3,  pp.  117-118  and  77. 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  16,  p.  671. 


BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES  IN  FLORIDA 


127 


the  blazing  ship.  They  left  behind  three  of  their  number 
dead  and  fourteen  wounded.  The  Judah  burned  to  the 
water's  edge.^  The  first  blood  of  the  war  in  Florida  had 
been  shed  in  savage  fashion. 

These  daring  efforts  provoked  reprisal.  General  Bragg 
was  determined  to  pay  back  in  kind.  On  the  eighth  of 
October  preparations  were  completed  for  a  night  attack  on 
the  Federal  encampment  in  the  rear  of  .Fort  Pickens  on 
Santa  Rosa  island.^  Part  of  the  troops  destined  for  this 
work  were  moved  by  water  from  the  navy-yard  to  Pensa- 
cola  on  the  steamer  Time.  Darkness  veiled  the  man- 
oeuver  from  those  on  Santa  Rosa  island.  As  the  craft  passed 
up  the  bay  toward  the  town,  Brigadier-General  Richard 
H.  Anderson,  in  command,  issued  final  orders  for  the  divi- 
sion of  the  troops  into  three  battalions.  The  first,  350 
strong,  was  composed  of  the  9th  Mississippi  Infantry,  loth 
Mississippi  Infantry,  and  the  ist  Alabama  Infantry;  the 
second,  400  strong,  of  detachments  from  the  7th  Alabama 
Infantry,  the  ist  Florida  Infantry,  and  two  independent 
companies  of  Infantry  from  Louisiana;  the  third,  200 
strong,  of  the  3rd  and  5th  independent  Georgia  Battalions. 
In  addition,  a  company  of  53  picked  men  was  taken  to  spike 
cannon  and  set  fire  to  the  Federal  camp.  The  whole  com- 
mand numbered  about  1,090  men.* 

Shortly  after  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  these  troops  al- 
ready collected  in  Pensacola,  were  transferred  to  barges 
and  to  the  small  bay  steamers  Ewing  and  Neaffle. 
With  lights  out  the  flotilla  moved  across  the  bay  to  Santa 
Rosa  island.  Some  time  after  midnight  a  landing  was 
made  on  the  beach  at  a  point  more  than  four  miles  east  of 

^  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  437.    Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  16, 
pp.  670-674. 

'  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  460. 

*Ihid. 


128  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Fort  Pickens.^  Between  the  Confederate  force  and  the 
fort  lay  the  sleeping  Federal  camp.  Rumor  had  gotten 
abroad  there  and  at  Pickens  early  in  the  evening  that  the 
enemy  had  landed  on  the  island.  As  the  night  progressed 
in  peace  the  rumor  was  discredited  and  apparently  for- 
gotten.^ 

The  attacking  expedition  formed  in  three  columns.  One 
took  the  south  or  Gulf  side  of  the  island;  one,  the  center; 
and  the  third,  the  north  or  Bay  side.^  Santa  Rosa  island 
varies  in  width  from  250  yards  to  more  than  half  a  mile. 
The  men  of  the  central  column  struggled  in  the  darkness 
over  the  shifting  sand  and  through  snake-haunted  pal- 
metto jungles.*  "  I  had  rather  attempt  to  scale  the  rugged- 
est  peak  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  than  to  make  a  forced 
march  on  Santa  Rosa  island,"  stated  one  man.  "  It  is  im- 
possible for  the  best-trained  troops  in  the  world  to  keep  in 
line  in  such  a  place."  The  monotone  of  the  Gulf  surf  dulled 
the  noise  of  the  advancing  columns.  Occasionally  someone, 
pricked  by  cactus  or  sand  spur,  believed  for  a  moment  that 
he  had  been  bitten  by  a  rattle  snake  and  expressed  his  belief 
aloud.  "  Jump,  pardner,  jump.  Good  God,  there's  a  rattler 
big  enough  to  swallow  yer  foot!  Don't  you  see  him?" 
"  Silence  in  ranks.  Close  up,  boys,"  was  the  response  from 
the  company  officers. 

They  passed  the  dunes  which  rose  up  like  pale,  strange 
mountains    in    the    darkness.      They   passed    beneath   the 

^  Moore,  Rehell.  Red.,  v.  3,  pp.  83,  90,  91.  The  accounts  coincide  in 
saying  "  about  2  o'clock  ". 

'  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  439.  Moore,  Rehell.  Red.,  v.  3,  pp. 
83,  90.  Reports  of  Col.  Brown  and  the  testimony  of  negroes.  "  Hav- 
ing little  confidence  in  the  correctness  of  the  report  I  directed  that  no 
alarm  should  be  given,"  stated  Col.  Brown. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  460-61. 

*  See  accounts  in  Moore,  Rehell.  Red.,  v.  3,  pp.  90-93. 


BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES  IN  FLORIDA 


129 


dwarfed  and  gnarled  pines,  that  facing  for  a  century  the 
winds  of  the  sea,  made  even  on  a  moonless  night  grotes- 
quely beautiful  silhouettes  against  the  sky.  They  passed 
silently  within  the  confines  of  the  sleeping  Federal  camp — 
and  at  half  past  three,  about  three  miles  east  of  Pickens, 
the  first  pickets  were  encountered.  "  The  night  was  dark 
and  lowering  so  that  a  man  could  scarcely  be  distinguished 
twenty  yards  ahead,"  stated  a  Federal  officer  in  the  camp. 
"  Not  a  sound  was  heard  save  the  regular  tramp  of  the  pick- 
ets and  the  voice  of  command  as  it  rang  through  the  silent 
night  air.  The  Zouaves  little  imagined  so  incensed  and 
blood-thirsty  a  foe  was  so  near  them  and  panting  for  their 
blood."  ^  The  luckless  sentinels  were  promptly  shot  down,^ 
and  the  Southern  columns,  moving  swiftly  through  the 
darkness  and  over  the  stricken  outposts,  burst  into  the  camp 
of  the  6th  New  York  Zouaves  with  the  cry  "  Death  to  Wil- 
son !  No  quarter  to  Wilson's  Zouaves !  " — or  such  was  the 
cry  that  the  frightened  Zouave  Colonel  thought  he  heard.' 
The  firing  was  an  abrupt  alarm.  Colonel  Wilson  at- 
tempted to  rouse  his  men,  several  hundred  strong,  to  with- 
stand the  attack.  The  sound  of  "  heavy  musketry  "  ac- 
companied by  the  patting  of  bullets  came  from  the  direction 
of  the  field  hospital.  A  lieutenant  rushed  up  to  the  colonel 
and  reported  2,000  men  advancing  in  two  columns.*  A 
warning  was  immediately  sent  to  Colonel  Brown  in  Fort 
Pickens.  Hardly  had  the  message  departed  when  volleys 
were  poured  into  the  half -formed  6th  New  York  from  both 

1  Moore,  Rehell  Red.,  v.  3,  P-  87.  Capt.  Norman's  (6th  N.  Y.)  state- 
ment. 

*  Ojf.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  461.  Moore,  Rehell.  Red.,  v.  3,  pp. 
87-98.  statements  of  Capt.  Norman,  6th  N.  Y.,  and  Lieut.  D'Orville, 
6th  N.  Y. 

»  Moore,  Rehell.  Red.,  v.  3,  p.  86.    Off.  Rpt.  of  Col.  Wilson. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebel!.,  s.  i,  v.  6.  p.  446. 


130  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

flanks  and  the  front.  "  We  were  fired  into  from  three 
sides,"  stated  Wilson/  The  Zouaves  wavered  and  then 
fled  without  heavy  loss  to  the  protection  of  batteries  Totten 
and  Lincoln,  in  the  rear  of  Pickens.  The  camp  burst  into 
flames  ere  its  occupants  reached  the  protection  of  the  Bat- 
teries.^ "  My  men  did  well,"  boasted  the  Zouave  Colonel 
a  few  days  later.  "  They  have  smelt  gunpowder ;  now  they 
are  all  right.  The  enemy  lost  in  killed  and  wounded  500 
men,"  ^  he  affirmed.  Yet  one  of  the  enemy  who  survived  re- 
ported that  "  the  gallant  Colonel  took  to  his  heels  with  noth- 
ing but  a  brief  skirted  nether  garment  to  cover  his  naked- 
ness, and  the  race  between  him  and  his  valiant  braves  pre- 
sented a  struggle  for  precedence  more  closely  contested  than 
any  ever  witnessed  on  the  race  course.  Bull's  Run  was 
nothing  in  comparison  to  it."  * 

The  burning  camp  was  rifled  of  available  property  by 
the  more  thrifty  Southerners. °  "  One  man  got  $340  in 
cash,"  stated  a  Southern  volunteer.  "  Another  took  the 
Zouave  Major's  hat;  others  took  coats,  hats,  caps,  swords, 
a  fine  pair  of  navy  pistols — one  man  captured  a  fine  Ger- 
man silver  horn."  "  Every  one  in  Pensacola  has  my  sword 
and  uniform,"  reported  Colonel  Wilson  a  few  days  later.  "I 
must  have  had  a  large  quantity  of  hair,  plenty  of  swords, 
and  uniforms.  They  say  if  I  was  to  be  taken  alive,  I  would 
be  put  in  a  cage  and  exhibited."  ® 

Soon  after  the  outbreak  of  the  general  firing,  "  the  light 
of  the  burning  camp"  being  seen  at  Pickens,  Colonel  Brown 

» Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  3,  p.  86. 

»  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  446. 

»  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  3.    Wilson's  'Report,  passim. 

*  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  3,  p.  91. 

'^  Ibid.,  pp.  83-93.     Southern  and  Northern  testimony. 

•  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  3,  pp.  86,  91,  92. 


BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES  IN  FLORIDA  131 

ordered  Major  Vogdes  to  move  forward  with  two  compan- 
ies of  regular  troops.^  Vogdes  and  command  were  flanked 
by  the  Confederates  and  after  a  sharp  fight  the  regulars  re- 
treated to  the  batteries,  leaving  behind  eleven  killed  and 
wounded,  and  their  commander,  Vogdes,  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy.''  And  now  the  good  sense  or  good  fortune  of 
the  Southern  troops  deserted  them.  Two  Confederate  de- 
tachments fired  upon  each  other  and  several  companies  be- 
came disorganized  in  looting  the  Federal  camp.'  One  re- 
port from  a  Southern  source  states  that  the  "  wildest  dis- 
order reigned  ".*  The  Federal  regulars  and  Zouaves  came 
back  cautiously  into  the  conflict  with  their  long-range  En- 
field rifles.  In  their  rear  was  the  stimulating  refuge  of 
heavily-entrenched  and  walled  batteries. 

The  approach  of  daylight  decided  General  Anderson  to 
withdraw  his  force  from  the  island.^  The  Confederate 
troops  began  at  the  break  of  day  to  march  back  to  the  boats, 
leaving  behind  the  smoldering  Federal  camp  and  a  small 
detachment  at  the  field  hospital.  Federal  troops  followed  at 
a  safe  distance,  promptly  capturing  the  hospital  corps  and 
cutting  off  some  stragglers.  The  Confederates  suffered 
serious  reverses  in  embarkation.  The  propeller  chain  of  the 
steamer  Ewing  became  entangled  in  a  cable.  The  steamer 
drifted  about  helplessly  for  some  time  with  her  crowded 
barges  in  tow.  The  Federal  soldiers  quickly  took  advan- 
tage of  the  situation  with  their  Enfield  rifles.    From  behind 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  439,  448.  Col.  Brown  also  called 
upon  the  warship  Potomac  to  move  east  and  join  in  the  engagement. 
She  arrived  too  late. 

*  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  3,  p.  8$.    Report  of  Col.  Browa 
*Ibid.,  pp.  91-92. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  92,    From  Letter  to  Atlanta  Intelligencer. 
^Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  461. 


132  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

sand  dunes  they  opened  an  effective  fire  upon  the  exposed 
Southern  troops.^  "  Their  large  Enfield  rifles  carry  a  ball 
a  great  distance,"  stated  a  Southern  correspondent  with  the 
expedition — "  and  elevate  my  musket  as  I  would  the  bullet 
fell  short  of  the  beach,  while  their  balls  fell  among  us  or 
passed  just  over  our  heads."  ^ 

The  outcome  of  this  night  conflict  on  Santa  Rosa  island 
had  been  a  questionable  success  from  the  Confederate  stand- 
point. The  camp  of  the  6th  New  York  was  destroyed ;  some 
cannon  were  spiked;  both  Federal  regulars  and  volunteers 
were  driven  into  the  entrenchments;  and  fourteen  of  the 
enemy  were  killed,  twenty-nine  wounded,  and  twenty-four 
captured  and  missing.*  But  the  Confederate  loss  was  seven- 
teen killed,  thirty-seven  wounded,  and  thirty  captured  or 
missing.*  In  the  actual  fighting,  the  Federal  troops  were 
heavily  outnumbered — probably  two  to  one,  but  they  had 
the  advantage  of  weapons  and  position.  All  Federal  troops 
on  Santa  Rosa  island  would  have  more  than  equalled  the 
number  of  the  attacking  force.  The  Confederate  attack 
was  well  planned  and  remarkably  well  executed  through  the 
repulse  of  Vogdes'  regulars.  The  green  Southern  troops 
were  not  steady  in  the  excitement  of  partial  victory,  stopped 
to  plunder,  and  failed  to  follow  up  their  earlier  advantages, 
as  they  might  have,  to  the  very  walls  of  Pickens — one  mile 
distant. 

Both  sides  claimed  victory.  General  Lorenzo  Thomas,  Ad- 

*  OfF.  Reds.  Rebeli,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  440,  462. 

'  Moore,  Rebeli.  Red.,  v.  3,  p.  92. 

'Off.  Reds.  Rebeli,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  442.  Moore,  Rebeli.  Red.,  v.  3,  pp. 
85-86.    Report  of  Colonel  Brown. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebeli,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  458,  459,  462.  Bragg  stated  that 
eleven  of  the  dead  bodies  recovered  had  a  bullet  wound  in  the  head  and 
each  a  fatal  wound  in  the  body  which  led  him  to  the  conclusion  that 
they  had  been  murdered  on  the  field. 


BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES  IN  FLORIDA 


133 


jutant-General  of  McClellan's  army,  stated  in  his  congratu- 
latory announcement :  "  On  the  night  of  October  9th  an  at- 
tempt was  made  by  a  large  body  of  rebels  to  bum  the  camp 
of  Wilson's  Zouaves,  spike  the  guns  of  the  outer  batteries, 
and  take  Fort  Pickens  by  assault.  The  enemy  was  signally 
repulsed  from  Santa  Rosa  Island  with  heavy  loss  on  their 
side,  after  firing  a  few  of  our  tents."  ^  Colonel  Wilson,  of 
the  Zouaves,  reported,  "  We  have  had  our  first  fight.  It  was 
a  terrible  one  for  the  enemy,"  yet  further  on  in  the  same  re- 
port he  states :  "  Our  new  clothes  are  all  destroyed.  I  have 
lost  everything  I  had;  my  men  also.  They  burned  us  out 
completely.  Our  papers  and  books  are  burned.  My  com- 
mission is  safe.    I  sent  it  to  the  post  office  before  the  fight."^ 

On  the  other  hand.  General  Bragg  announced :  "  We  chas- 
tised the  enemy  on  Santa  Rosa  Island  last  night  for  his  an- 
noyances, drove  him  from  his  camp,  burned  his  tents,  spiked 
some  of  his  guns,  and  retired  in  good  order.  Our  loss  was 
30  or  40  killed  or  wounded."  ^  One  member  of  the  expedi- 
tion stated,  *T  scarcely  know  whether  we  achieved  a  victory 
or  suffered  a  defeat.  Night  skirmishing  is  a  dangerous  busi- 
ness— especially  in  an  unknown  country,  as  is  the  island  of 
Santa  Rosa."  * 

Fort  Pickens  was  beleagured  by  Confederate  forces  nine 
months  before  the  long-expected  artillery  battle  occurred. 
The  press  North  and  South  generally  consigned  Pickens  to 
the  fate  of  Sumter.  Since  February  the  Confederate  troops 
had  been  engaged  in  erecting  and  improving  a  powerful 
line  of  batteries  on  the  mainland  opposite  Pickens.  These 
works  stretched  along  the  coast  in  a  great  crescent  for  more 

'  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  457. 
»  Moore,  Rehell.  Red.,  v.  3,  p.  86. 
»  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  458. 
*  Moore,  Rehell.  Red.,  v.  3,  p.  92. 


134  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

than  two  miles  with  Fort  McRee  at  one  horn  of  the  crescent, 
the  navy-yard  at  the  other  horn,  and  Fort  Barrancas  be- 
tween. The  Confederate  armament  included  probably  fifty 
effective  pieces  of  rather  light  artillery  and  twenty  ten-inch 
Columbiads.^ 

The  Federal  stronghold  opposite  was  a  more  powerful 
work  than  the  combined  batteries  on  the  mainland.  The 
armament  of  Pickens  by  November,  1861,  consisted  of  seven 
separate  batteries  mounting  thirty-five  heavy  guns — twelve 
of  them  being  eight-  and  ten-inch  Columbiads.  In  addition 
were  five  batteries  near  the  fort  mounting  twenty-two  pieces, 
including  four  ten-inch  Columbiads,  two  forty-two  pound- 
ers, eight  ten-inch  sea-coast  mortars,  one  twelve-inch  mor- 
tar, and  one  thirteen-inch  mortar. 

On  the  morning  of  November  22nd,  at  ten  o'clock,  the 
batteries  of  Fort  Pickens-  suddenly  opened  fire.  The  first 
shots  were  directed  against  two  Confederate  steamers  lying 
at  the  navy-yard  wharf.^  Both  boats  escaped  with  slight 
injury,  and  soon  the  Confederate  batteries  all  along  the 
line  were  engaged  in  the  artillery  duel.  The  Federal  men- 
of-war  Richmond  and  Niagara  moved  nearer  the  shore  and 
opened  fire.*  Their  attack  was  directed  mainly  against 
Fort  McRee.  The  big  guns  of  Pickens  soon  played  havoc 
with  this  fortification.  Three  times  during  the  afternoon 
the  fort  was  afire.  This  threatened  to  expel  the  garrison. 
The  magazines  were  laid  bare  to  the  Federal  shells  which 
constantly  exploded  near  them.  A  burning  building  to  the 
left  of  the  fort  sent  showers  of  cinders  and  sparks  through 
the  open  magazine.*    The  flag  staffs  of  both  McRee  and 

•  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  443 ;  A^.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  27,  1861. 
»  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  473,  477. 
» Ibid.,  pp.  469,  490.    Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  16,  pp.  775-781, 
*Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  490. 


BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES  IN  FLORIDA  135 

Barrancas  were  shot  away/  The  men-of-war  circling  east 
and  west  Hke  hawks  poured  into  the  devoted  Confederate 
fort  tremendous  broadsides. 

The  Confederate  gunners  worked  desperately  and  not 
entirely  without  effect  on  the  ships.  A  seaman  on  board  the 
Richmond  wrote  home, 

I  had  been  complimenting  the  captain  of  one  of  our  guns  for 
the  accuracy  of  his  aim  when  a  shell  from  Fort  McRee 
bounded  through  our  bulwarks  and  took  the  poor  fellow's 
head  square  off.  His  brains  and  blood  were  scattered  all  over 
my  face,  blinding  my  eyes  and  making  my  brain  reel.  We  had 
thirteen  men  serving  that  gun.  Of  these  six  were  wounded 
and  one  killed  outright.^ 

The  loss  in  Fort  Pickens  during  the  first  day's  bombard- 
ment was  insignificant — one  killed,  six  wounded,  and  no 
fires.' 

Darkness  closed  the  first  day's  duel.  For  more  than  eight 
hours  the  roar  of  artillery  had  been  almost  continuous.  It 
was  a  magnificent  and  spectacular  waste  of  ammunition. 
"  It  was  grand  and  sublime,"  wrote  Gen.  Bragg.  "  The 
houses  in  Pensacola,  ten  miles  off,  trembled  from  the  effect ; 
and  immense  quantities  of  dead  fish  floated  on  the  surface 
of  the  lagoon,  stunned  by  the  concussion."  * 

Wind  and  rain  came  with  the  darkness.  The  Confederate 
loss  was  one  killed  by  a  shell,  twenty-one  wounded,  and  six 
smothered  to  death  by  the  caving-in  of  a  magazine."  The 
abandonment  of  McRee  was  seriously  discussed  during  the 

1  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  475. 

'  N.  Y.  Times,  Dec.  12,  1861.  Compare  account  in  Naval  War  Reds., 
s.  i,  V.  16,  pp.  777-9. 

»  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  475. 

*Ibid.,  p.  490. 

•  Bragg's  Report,  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  16,  pp.  783,  784. 


136  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

night.  Half  of  its  armament  was  disabled  and  its  maga- 
zines exposed  to  fire.  "  Upon  reflection  as  to  the  effect  this 
would  have  on  the  morale  of  my  troops,"  stated  General 
Bragg,  "  I  determined  to  hold  it  to  the  last  extremity."  ^  In 
the  midst  of  a  midnight  gale,  accompanied  by  thunder  and 
lightning,  efforts  were  made  to  put  the  work  in  repair.^ 

The  next  day,  at  10:30  A.  M.,  Pickens  opened  again. 
The  firing  was  more  deliberate  now  and  better  directed.  At 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  villages  of  Warrenton  and 
Woolsey  were  afire  from  the  hot  shots  of  the  Federal  bat- 
teries.^ Two  churches,  the  Confederate  hospital,  and  some 
score  of  private  dwellings  were  consumed.  The  sand  bat- 
teries between  Barrancas  and  McRee  continued  to  be 
worked  furiously  throughout  the  day. 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  November  24th,  firing 
ceased.  "  Quiet  reigned,"  wrote  General  Bragg.*  Sunday 
morning  dawned  in  profound  peace.  By  contrast  a  death- 
like stillness  seemed  to  pervade  everything. 

In  this  first  duel  of  the  forts  more  than  5,000  cannon 
shots  had  been  fired,  and  all  told,  eight  men  had  been  killed. 
The  firing  was  at  comparatively  short  range — from  2,000 
to  3,000  yards. ^  The  Confederate  works  had  suffered  the 
greater  damage.  The  result  of  the  bombardment  demon- 
strated the  strength  of  Pickens  when  matched  against  the 
improvised  works  across  the  channel;  and  showed  that  the 
Union  could  with  ease  continue  to  hold  Pensacola  bay  and 
could  ultimately,  by  greater  effort,  completely  destroy  the 
Southern   fortifications.     General  Bragg,  however,   found 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  491.  ^ Ibid.,  pp.  478,  491. 

»  N.  Y.  Herald,  Dec.  12,  1861.     Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  47s, 
491. 

♦  Ibid.,  p.  489. 

•  Ibid.,  pp.  469,  489,  491. 


BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES  IN  FLORIDA  137 

something  to  be  thankful  for.  In  closing  his  report  of  the 
engagement,  he  chanted  like  David,  "The  missiles  of  death, 
showered  upon  us  by  an  infuriated  enemy,  respecting  neither 
women,  children,  nor  the  sick,  have  been  so  directed  as  to 
cause  us  to  laugh  at  their  impotent  rage.  '  Verily,  except 
the  Lord  keepeth  the  city,  the  watchman  walketh  but  in 
vain.'  "  ' 

The  Federal  commander  at  Pickens,  Colonel  Brown,  was 
denounced  bitterly  by  General  Bragg  for  firing  upon  the 
Confederate  hospital.  The  hospital  building  was  in  the 
rear  of  the  batteries,  and  Brown  had  notified  Bragg  to  move 
either  his  batteries  or  his  hospital.    Bragg  had  replied. 

It  seems  from  your  communication  that  you  claim  the  right 
to  violate  the  hospital  flag  because  it  may  be  abused.  Admit 
that  principle  and  we  must  be  in  a  state  of  barbarism.  The 
sick,  the  women,  the  children,  and  the  prisoners  must  become 
the  object  of  vengeance;  the  white  flag  must  be  abolished; 
booty  and  beauty,  rape  and  rapine  must  follow  in  the  traces 
of  a  victorious  command.^ 

To  this  Brown  replied, 

you  have  knowingly  and  willingly  misconstrued  my  letter  for 
the  evident  purpose  of  having  your  Christian  answer  pub- 
lished. You  knew  that  in  calling  to  your  notice  that  these 
buildings  would  necessarily  be  exposed  to  my  fire  I  was  in- 
fluenced by  a  desire  to  save  the  sick,  women,  and  children 
from  danger.' 

The  bombardment  followed  this  controversy.  The  women, 
children,  and  sick — if  there  were  any — were  removed  be- 
yond the  danger  zone. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  493.    Report  of  Bragg 

*  Ibid.,  p.  470. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  471.  ■  -  "^ 


138  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

A  second  artillery  duel  of  less  consequence  took  place  on 
New  Year's  afternoon,  1862.  Again  the  engagement  was 
begun  by  Federal  cannon  opening  on  a  steamer  stationed 
near  the  navy-yard.  Almost  immediately  the  whole  west- 
ern rim  of  the  bay's  mouth  was  aflame  in  a  superb  and  use- 
less waste  of  valuable  ammunition.^  General  Bragg  was 
away  when  the  engagement  began.  His  timely  arrival  put 
a  stop  to  the  Confederate  firing.  This  induced  the  enemy 
to  cease.  A  large  store-house  at  the  navy-yard  was  burned 
by  the  Federal  hot  shot.  Brigadier-General  Anderson, 
who  in  Bragg'§  absence  had  given  the  order  to  return  the 
fire,  was  arrested  by  his  superior  on  a  charge  of  intoxica- 
tion. The  charge  was  not  substantiated,  but  it  created  a 
bitter  controversy  in  the  Confederate  army  on  Pensacola 
bay.^ 

These  artillery  duels,  so  long  awaited  by  both  armies  and 
the  entire  country,  clearly  indicated  that  without  tre- 
mendous effort  Pensacola  bay  could  never  be  controlled  by 
the  Confederacy.  That  power  was  thereby  deprived  of  a 
valuable  port  of  entry  for  blockade-runners  and  the  great- 
est naval  base  on  the  Gulf.  Fort  Pickens  on  Santa  Rosa 
island  never  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Union. 

Early  in  1862  the  development  of  the  conflict  in  Ken- 
tucky and  Tennessee  seriously  threatened  the  safety  of  the 
lower  South.  While  the  army  of  McClellan  was  preparing 
to  move  forward  in  Virginia,  the  western  army  was  actively 
engaged  in  a  far-flung  and  stubborn  campaign  which  has 
been  termed  by  one  critic  "  a  flanking  movement  on  a  vast 
scale  ".'  If  the  Confederate  line  in  the  West  had  been 
broken,  a  few  days'  march  southward  would  have  put  the 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebel!.,  s.  1,  v.  6,  pp.  497,  671. 

»  N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  30,  1862.  N.  Y.  Times,  Jan.  16,  18,  1862.  Off. 
Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  2,  pp.  323,  324. 

'  Hosmer,  Appeal  to  Arms,  p.  84, 


BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES  IN  FLORIDA  139 

invaders  in  the  most  populous  portions  of  Mississippi  and 
Alabama.  They  would  have  swept  before  them  a  compara- 
tively dense  slave  population  whose  work  was  vital  to  the 
success  of  distant  Southern  armies.  Plantations,  ware- 
houses, homes,  and  recruiting  grounds  would  have  fallen 
into  Federal  hands — for  the  heart  of  the  productive  lower 
South  was  here — in  striking  distance  of  the  Western  army. 
The  rivers  which  penetrated  this  region  complicated  the 
military  problem  of  defense  and  produced  a  new  factor  to 
be  seriously  reckoned  with  in  interior  warfare — namely,  the 
river  gunboat. 

President  Lincoln  was  anxious  for  a  general  advance  of 
Federal  forces.  He  was  consistently  aggressive  in  his  mili- 
tary policy  and  sometimes  in  advice  to  his  army  command- 
ers showed  irascibility  when  confronted  with  probably 
undue  cautiousness.  He  issued  orders  for  a  general  advance 
to  begin  not  later  than  February  22nd,  1862.^  Before  that 
date  his  western  army  was  actively  engaged.  Fort  Henry 
fell  on  February  6th.  Grant  at  once  moved  against  the 
more  formidable  Fort  Donelson.  On  February  i6th  it 
capitulated.^  In  March,  McClellan's  army  in  the  East 
moved  slowly  and  majestically  forward  to  ultimate  defeat 
in  the  Peninsula  campaign. 

Military  events  during  the  first  weeks  of  the  spring  of 
1862  possess  a  certain  panoramic  largeness  and  dramatic 
quality  which  partly  hides  the  true  hideousness  of  war. 
From  Virginia  to  Missouri  the  conflict  was  developing  on 
an  immense  scale.  The  entire  frontier  between  the  two  re- 
publics was  distraught  in  the  hurry  and  thunder  of  hostile 
armies,  except  where  mountain  solitudes  shut  out  the 
clamor  of  the  warring  nation.    Grant  was  moving  forward 

*  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Complete  Wks.,  v.  ii,  p.  119. 
'  Hosmer,  op.  cit.,  p.  95. 


140  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

with  persistence  and  good  fortune  toward  his  star.  Mc- 
Clellan  had  done  his  best  work  ere  he  led  his  army  into 
Virginia.  His  star  had  reached  the  zenith,  but  he  and  others 
did  not  realize  it.  Lee,  laboring  over  coast  defenses  and 
recruitment  in  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Florida,  had 
not  yet  given  evidence  of  that  genius  which  within  a  few 
months  made  him  as  leader  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia the  most  remarkable  figure  of  the  war.  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston  was  striving  with  the  Confederate  war  depart- 
ment to  collect  a  great  army  for  the  decisive  shock  that 
most  wise  Southerners  then  knew  must  come  in  the 
West.  It  came  with  swiftness.  Shiloh  was  fought  in  early 
April.  The  Federal  advance  was  checked  but  Johnston,  the 
great  leader,  was  lost  to  the  South.  Hardly  had  the  bells 
ceased  their  tolling  for  the  dead  when  Farragut  with  a 
powerful  fleet  swept  past  the  forts  below  New  Orleans  and 
was  literally  swept  into  fame  by  his  victory  in  Louisiana, 
the  scene  of  his  childhood.^  This  aggressive  movement  in 
the  West  toward  the  South  drew  from  all  the  cotton  states 
troops  to  repel  the  Federal  invasion,^  and  what  is  important 
in  this  narrative  of  Florida,  greatly  reduced  Confederate 
military  strength  within  that  state. 

The  withdrawal  of  soldiers  was  not  the  only  weakness 
which  threatened  to  prostrate  Florida  before  invading 
armies.  Local  conditions  almost  destroyed  military  effi- 
ciency. Arms,  ammunition,  and  supplies  were  scarce  and 
difficult  to  procure  even  when  military  funds  were  plenti- 
ful.'   "As  sure  as  the  sun  rises,  unless  cannon,  powder,  etc., 

*  Rhodes,  U.  S.,  v.  3,  pp.  580-630.    Hosmer,  op.  cit.,  chap.  6. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  particularly  pp.  400,  406,  409,  411,  418. 

'  Ibid.,  pp.  276,  287,  288,  299,  319,  325,  399,  etc.  On  October  29th 
Milton  to  Mallory :  "  Florida  wants  arms.  She  has  not  received  a 
musket  from  the  Confederate  states";  on  Nov.  14,  "We  need  arms 
and  munitions  of  war  " ;  on  Nov.  19,  to  Pres.  Davis,  "  We  need  troops 
and  munitions  of  war  and  military  officers  of  education." 


BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES  IN  FLORIDA  141 

be  sent  to  Florida  in  the  next  thirty  days,  she  will  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  North,"  reported  Brigadier-General  Gray- 
son, who  commanded  in  East  Florida.  "  Florida  will  be- 
come a  Yankee  province,"  he  concluded.  "  Our  state  is  in 
a  most  deplorable  condition,"  stated  Governor  Milton  to 
Secretary  Mallory  in  October,  1861.  A  few  days  later  he 
informed  President  Davis  that  there  was  "  much  derange- 
ment of  military  affairs  in  this  state  owing  chiefly  to  the 
desire  to  enter  Confederate  service  for  short  periods  and 
certain  pay.  The  large  majority  who  were  willing  to  serve 
as  soldiers  as  infantry  are  now  in  favor  of  riding  into  ser- 
vice." 

Great  sections  of  Florida  were  entirely  without  railways. 
Pikes  were  poor;  towns  were  few;  bridges  and  fords  were 
many,  and  Florida  rivers  were  given  to  sudden  rising  and 
falling.  Such  conditions  hampered  the  mobilization  of 
troops,  and  when  they  were  mobilized,  disputes  and  wrang- 
ling took  place  between  the  officers  of  state  and  Confederate 
troops  concerning  authority.^  The  governor  reported  in 
December,  1861,  to  the  secretary  of  war  that  such  disputing 
at  Apalachicola  "  frightened  and  alarmed  the  citizens  and 
threatened  most  serious  and  disreputable  disturbances."  ^ 

Intemperance  in  the  use  of  liquor  and  ignorance  of  the 
essentials  of  military  organization  and  management  were 
not  uncommon  short-comings  among  both  the  militia  and 
the  Confederate  troops  recruited  in  Florida.'     Experience 

»  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  288,  298,  355,  etc.  Milton  Papers, 
Nov.-Dec,  1861. 

»  Off.  Reds.  Rebel!.,  s.  i,  v.  6. 

'  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  14,  pp.  303,  325,  477,  etc.;  v.  6,  pp.  287,  301. 
Milton  stated  that  the  Confederate  Lieut.-Col.  in  command  at  Cedar 
Keys  "  drank  to  excess ",  while  the  garrison  at  Fernandina  was  in  his 
opinion  "  demoralized  by  the  habitual  intemperance  of  its  Colonel  and 
Lieut.-Col."  On  April  10,  1862,  Gen.  Finegan,  stationed  at  Tallahassee, 
issued  orders  (No.  17)  calling  "upon  officers  of  all  grades  to  aid 
him  in  suppressing  the  vice  of  intemperance  in  the  army."  Also 
Richardson,  Lights  and  Shadows  of  Itinerant  Life,  p'.  173,  ete. 


142  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

in  the  field  eradicated  most  short-comings  of  this  character 
and  made  of  the  Florida  troops  seasoned,  canny,  fighting 
veterans  in  some  of  the  most  effective  armies  in  history.  It 
took  time  to  produce  such  fighting  organizations.  The  re- 
markable thing  is  that  in  so  short  a  time  and  with  such  poor 
equipment  the  Southern  rank  and  file  learned  to  practice 
warfare  so  successfully.  General  Bragg,  commanding  in 
West  Florida,  reported  in  the  autumn  of  1861  that  his  army 
— more  than  5,000  strong — was  "raw  and  insufficiently  or- 
ganized ".^  The  greater  part  of  it  was  composed  of  troops 
from  neighboring  states. 

General  Grayson,  commanding  troops  in  Eastern  and 
Middle  Florida  until  the  autumn  of  1861,  was  dying  of 
tuberculosis,  and  was  often  abed.  He  was  physically  unfit 
to  cope  with  his  strenuous  task.^  Petty  politics  in  regi- 
mental elections  had  developed  bitter  feuds  between  offi- 
cers.^ State  politics  in  some  insidious  way  aggravated 
the  trouble.  When  Governor  Milton  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  his  office  in  November,  1861,  he  found  the 
friends  of  ex-Governor  Perry  directing  military  organi- 
zation. Milton  was  personally  opposed  to  Perry  and 
his  followers.  Both  were  Democrats  and  radicals.  "  Gov- 
ernor Perry,"  he  wrote  confidentially  to  Mallory,  "  is, 
I  reckon,  as  you  have  perceived,  a  man  of  strong  pre- 
judices, without  very  strong  intellectual  abilities."  *  The 
new  governor  at  once  attempted  to  supplant  as  best  he  could 
the  Perry  men  by  his  own  friends.    To  accomplish  this  he 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebeli,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  757,  762. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  288,  289,  341. 

*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  6,  passim.  Correspondence  of  Milton,  Benjamin,  Davis, 
Trapier,  Floyd,  Finegan,  Anderson,  and  Finley  in  this  vol.,  and  Milton 
Papers,  MSS. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebeli. ,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  287,  Letter  of  Oct.  2,  1862,  and  p. 
290,  to  J.  Davis. 


BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES  IN  FLORIDA  143 

sought  to  influence  the  Confederate  war  department  in  many 
of  its  appointments,  removals,  and  orders  concerning  Flor- 
ida and  Florida  troops  for  the  Confederacy.^ 

To  cap  the  climax  of  misfortunes  for  the  immediate  mili- 
tary welfare  of  the  state,  the  constitutional  convention 
which  reassembled  in  Tallahassee  during  January,  1862, 
voted  out  of  existence  the  militia  after  March  loth  of  that 
year.^  Most  troops  in  Florida — state  militia  and  Confed- 
erate— were  "  twelve-month  volunteers  ".  Their  terms  of 
enlistment  dated  mostly  from  the  spring  and  summer  of 
1861.^  Both  the  Confederate  government  and  the  state 
government  were  face  to  face  in  the  spring  of  1862  with  the 
possibility  of  a  considerable  part  of  their  military  being 
temporarily  disbanded.  Thousands  of  soldiers  were  in- 
duced to  re-enlist  before  their  terms  expired  by  the  reward 
of  furloughs,  which  enabled  them  to  return  home  for  a  little 
while.  They  found  themselves  heroes  in  the  eyes  of  the 
homefolks — the  women  particularly.  To  keep  alive  the  im- 
pression, they  promptly  returned  and  re-enlisted.*  The 
Confederate  government  finally  settled  the  question  of  hold- 

'^Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  93,  292,  298,  300,  355,  390,  404,  412, 
427,  429;  V.  14  p.  474;  V.  53,  pt.  2,  pp.  203-206,  211,  230,  236,  237,  290. 
Conven.  proceedings,  1862,  pp.  57,  95 ;  Milton  Papers,  1862-4. 

2  Gov.'s  message,  November  17,  1862,  Ordinance  of  Convention,  in 
part  as  follow^s :  "  That  the  Governor  be  and  is  hereby  required 
on  or  before  March  10  next  to  transfer  into  Confederate  service  all 
troops  nowr  in  the  service  of  the  state;  and  if  they  fail  or  refuse  to  go 
into  Confederate  service,  said  troops  shall  be  disbanded." 

3  Muster  rolls  in  Robertson,  Soldiers  of  Florida. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  376,  768,  770,  778,  806,  810.  On  Dec 
II,  1861,  Gen.  Bragg  at  Pensacola  wrote  to  Sec.  Benjamin:  "Great 
difficulty  is  being  experienced  in  organizing  our  old  men  for  the  wrar — 
our  fight  (on  Santa  Rosa  Island)  has  injured  our  prospects.  Men  wish 
to  go  home  and  talk  over  their  deeds  with  their  friends  and  families. 
I  shall  try  now  by  liberal  use  of  furloughs.  As  they  are  to  go  anyhow 
it  will  be  as  well  to  let  them  go  on  furlough,  and  then  they  will  not 
stay.    The  women  will  not  tolerate  it." 


144  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

ing  together  its  volunteers  by  the  passage  of  the  Conscript 
Act  on  April  i6th.^ 

More  than  a  month  before  this  date  the  Florida  militia 
had  been  disbanded.  The  convention  ordered  that  the  gov- 
ernor transfer  to  Confederate  service  those  troops  who 
wished  to  be  transferred.  If  a  soldier  did  not  wish  to  go 
from  the  state  service  to  the  Confederate  service  he  was  to 
be  mustered  out  on  March  loth.  Brigadier-General  Floyd 
of  Florida  expressed  the  opinion  that  "  the  militia  will  not 
enlist  in  Confederate  service  until  they  have  enjoyed  the 
privilege  of  going  home."  This  proved  to  be  the  case.^  On 
March  loth  less  than  i,ooo  Florida  militia  were  mustered 
out  and  for  a  time  the  Confederacy  was  none  the  better  oflf 
for  soldiers  in  Florida.^  The  men  returned  home  before 
entering  the  service  again. 

In  the  Confederate  war  department  the  defense  of  Flor- 
ida resolved  itself  primarily  into  defending  the  approaches 
to  Apalachicola  at  the  mouth  of  the  Apalachicola  river; 
Fernandina,  the  Atlantic  terminus  of  Florida's  railway  sys- 
tem; Jacksonville,  near  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Johns  river; 
and  Pensacola,  the  chief  town  of  West  Florida.*    The  evi- 

*  Act  C.  S.  Congress,  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  iv,  v.  i,  pp.  1095-1099. 

*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  6,  pp.  412,  768,  770-8.  Gov.'s  message,  Nov.  17,  1862, 
Milton  Papers. 

*  Rpt.  State  Adj.-Gen.,  Jan.,  1862.  Gov.'s  message,  Nov.  17,  1862. 
"The  effect  of  this  order,"  vi^rote  Gov.  Milton,  "was,  in  spite  of  every 
effort  I  could  make,  to  disband  the  state  forces  and  thus  create  the 
necessity  of  abandoning  Apalachicola  and  other  important  positions  to 
the  mercy  of  the  enemy."  Also  An.  Cyclo.,  1862,  for  resume  of  con- 
ditions. 

*  The  principal  coast  towns  in  Florida  were  Pensacola,  Apalachicola, 
Cedar  Keys,  Tampa,  and  Key  West  on  the  Gulf;  and  St.  Augustine, 
Jacksonville,  and  Fernandina  on  the  Atlantic.  Key  West  never  passed 
out  of  Federal  hands.  Pensacola  was  held  jointly  by  the  Confederates 
and  Federals.  None  of  these  towns  had  a  population  of  more  than 
3.500.     Regarding  their  condition  at  this  time  see  U.  S.  Census,  i860; 


BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES  IN  FLORIDA  145 

dent  intention  of  the  Confederate  government  during  the 
autumn  and  early  winter  of  1861-2  was  to  defend  the 
Florida  seaboard.^  Cannon,  ammunition,  and  supplies  as 
well  as  troops  were  sent  to  Femandina,  Apalachicola,  St. 
Johns  Bluflf  (below  Jacksonville),  and  Pensacola.^  Cedar 
Keys,  the  Gulf  terminus  of  the  Florida  railway,  was  neg- 
lected. 

By  the  end  of  February,  1862,  thirty  guns  had  been 
mounted  in  works  about  Femandina — some  in  Fort  Clinch 
and  some  behind  sand  barriers.  A  few  pieces  were  eight- 
and  ten-inch  Columbiads.  Brigadier-General  Trapier,  in 
command  at  Femandina,  stated  that  it  would  take  7,000 
men  to  man  adequately  the  works  and  trenches  about  the 
town.    Never  more  than  3,500  men  were  stationed  there.' 

At  Apalachicola  on  the  Gulf  the  defenses  were  ridicu- 
lously feeble.  By  October,  1861,  they  consisted  of  six  light 
and  old  thirty-two-pound  smooth-bores,  mounted  on  St.  Vin- 
cent's island,  twelve  miles  away  toward  the  Gulf.  The  land 
approaches  to  the  town  were  unguarded,  as  well  as  an  ap- 
proach by  water  from  the  sea  through  East  Pass.     By  the 

N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  12,  Feb.  14,  Mch.  2,  14  15,  18,  20,  Apr.  2,  1862; 
N.  Y.  Times,  Mch.  13,  1862;  Oif.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  291,  298, 
301,  303,  316,  355,  757,  762;  V.  14,  pp.  488,  512,  630. 

^Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  294,  307,  334,  etc. ;  v.  53,  supra,  pp. 
64,  73.  Correspondence  of  Milton,  Yulee,  Grayson,  Finegan,  Trapier, 
Benjamin,  Davis.  Also  Milton  Papers,  1862.  On  Nov.  29,  1861,  Benja- 
min (Secy,  of  War)  vcrote  to  Milton,  "No  effort  shall  be  intermitted 
by  the  Confederate  Government  to  insure  the  safety  of  your  state." 
On  Oct.  22,  Benjamin  had  written  to  Gen.  Trapier  in  Florida,  "  Your 
instructions  are  brief  and  simple.  Do  everything  that  your  means  and 
energy  will  permit  to  place  the  coast  of  Florida  in  a  state  of  defense." 

'  OW.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  276-7,  286-7,  303,  332,  334,  367-8,  386. 

•  Ibid.,  p.  371.  In  Jan.,  1862,  Gen.  Trapier  reported  2,127  Confederate 
infantry,  1,126  cavalry,  and  95  artillery  in  East  and  Middle  Florida. 
These  troops  included  one  Georgfia  regiment,  one  Mississippi  regiment, 
and  the  rest  Florida  troops. 


146  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

end  of  the  year  shallow  entrenchments  more  than  three 
miles  long  had  been  thrown  up  to  protect  the  town,  but  to 
man  these  trenches  at  least  5,000  men  were  needed  and 
never  more  than  1,000  men  could  be  counted  on  for  service 
there.  The  place  was  no  stronger  in  guns,  the  heaviest 
being  a  32-pound  smooth-bore.  The  supply  of  ammunition 
was  very  limited.^  Apalachicola  was  the  entrepot  by  sea 
to  rich  sections  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Florida.  It  was 
important  therefore  that  it  be  protected.  "  Insecurity  and 
apprehension  is  the  predominant  feeling  at  Apalachicola," 
wrote  a  citizen  of  the  town.^  Governor  Milton  and  ex-Sen- 
ator Yulee  desperately  sought  help  from  the  Confederate 
war  department  for  both  Fernandina  and  Apalachicola,  but 
with  little  result.  The  pressure  was  becoming  terrible  else- 
where and  Florida  was  almost  forgotten.* 

Early  in  February,  1862,  Mr.  Benjamin,  Confederate  sec- 
retary of  war,  directed  General  Bragg  at  Pensacola  to  send 
immediately  to  Johnston's  army  in  Tennessee  all  troops 
which  he  could  spare.*  By  this  order  was  jEirst  officially 
transmitted  to  Florida  that  increasing  pressure  for  men 
and  supplies  felt  along  the  northwest  border  of  the  Confed- 
eracy. The  entire  lower  South  responded.  The  shifting 
of  military  forces  west  and  north  was  a  vast  movement.*^ 

^  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  286,  304,  319,  355-6. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  286-7. 

'  For  Milton's  attitude  and  efforts,  see  Message,  Nov.  17,  1862,  Milton 
Papers;  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  288,  319,  325,  354-5,  402,  404. 
Milton's  home  was  in  Apalachicola  valley,  which  sharpened  his  interest 
in  that  section.  For  Yulee's  attitude  and  efforts  see  Off.  Reds.  Retell., 
s.  i,  V.  6,  pp.  292-5.  Letter  to  R.  E.  Lee  in  N.  Y.  Herald,  March  18, 
1868;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  27,  1862.  Yulee's  beautiful  plantation  was 
near  Fernandina,  which  sharpened  his  interest  in  East  Florida.  See 
Phil.  Bulletin,  Jan.  24,  1862. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  823. 

»  See  An.  Cyclo.,  1861-2.    Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  725-894. 


BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES  IN  FLORIDA 


147 


The  resulting  withdrawal  of  troops  from  Florida  was  a 
small  part  of  this  movement,  but  it  wrought  an  important 
change  for  the  state. 

Fort  Donelson  fell  on  February  i6th.  One  week  later 
the  Confederate  war  department  announced  a  complete 
change  of  policy  regarding  the  east  or  Atlantic  coast  of 
Florida.  It  was  to  be  abandoned.  Mr.  Benjamin,  secretary 
of  war,  informed  Robert  E.  Lee,  then  commanding  the  mili- 
tary department  including  East  and  Central  Florida,  that 
the  recent  disaster  to  Confederate  arms  in  Tennessee  would 
force  the  government  to  withdraw  its  lines  within  more 
defensible  limits;  that  the  railroad  between  Memphis  and 
Richmond  must  be  held  at  all  hazards;  that  this  could  be 
done  only  by  the  withdrawal  of  troops  from  the  seaboard ; 
and  that  accordingly  the  troops  along  the  Florida  coast 
must  be  sent  to  General  Johnston's  army  in  Tennessee.^ 
The  only  Confederate  troops  to  be  retained  would  be  for 
the  defense  of  the  Apalachicola  river. 

When  General  Lee  heard  of  the  fall  of  Fort  Donelson,  he 
warned  General  Trapier,  his  lieutenant  in  East  Florida,  to 
be  prepared  to  move  toward  Tennessee  on  short  notice.* 
Mr.  Benjamin  informed  General  Bragg,  commanding  in 
West  Florida,  that  "  it  is  proposed  not  to  leave  any  force  at 
all  at  Pensacola.  The  heavy  blow  which  has  been  inflicted 
on  us  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  renders  necessary  a  com- 
plete change  in  our  whole  program."  '  Some  hopes  were  ex- 
pressed by  General  Lee  and  the  Confederate  war  depart- 
ment that  troops  might  be  spared  for  the  protection  of  the 
Apalachicola  and  St.  Johns  rivers.*  It  will  be  remembered 
that  on  March  loth  by  law  the  state  militia  would  cease  to 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  39& 

*  Ihid,  p.  393.  *  Ibid.,  p.  286. 
*Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  6,  pp.  398,  406,  410,  884. 


148  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

exist.  The  withdrawal  of  Confederate  troops  threatened 
therefore  complete  abandonment  by  the  military.  Governor 
Milton  believed  that  with  seaports,  rivers,  railways,  and  in- 
terior towns  unguarded  Florida  would  soon  be  the  scene  of 
disastrous  invasion.  "  The  effect  of  this  order,"  he 
wrote,  "  is  to  abandon  Middle,  East  and  Southern  Florida 
to  the  mercy  and  abuse  of  the  Lincoln  Government."  ^ 

Troops  moved  out  of  the  state  slowly.  Cannon,  mili- 
tary equipment,  and  supplies  were  withdrawn  with  some 
difficulty  because  transportation  facilities  were  poor,^  Public 
opinion  in  Florida  called  for  every  possible  delay.  In 
Middle  and  East  Florida  many  of  the  troops  were  natives 
of  the  state.  General  Pemberton  wrote  from  Florida  in 
March,  1862:  "  I  find  the  citizens  of  Tallahassee  much  ex- 
cited over  the  subject  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops,  and 
I  am  informed  by  Governor  Milton  and  others  that  the  feel- 
ing in  many  cases  amounts  almost  to  disaffection."  '  In 
East  Florida  some  people  declared  that  the  Confederate 
Grovernment  had  "  deserted  them  and  has  no  claims  to  their 
fealty."  *  General  Bragg  stated  that  "  the  people  of  Pen- 
sacola.  Mobile,  and  all  Alabama  and  West  Florida  are 
greatly  alarmed  at  the  report  that  this  place  [Pensacola]  is 
to  be  abandoned  to  the  enemy."  The  Confederacy  with 
no  navy  except  a  few  commerce  destroyers  could  not  hold 
its  seaboard  and  its  northern  frontier  at  the  same  time. 

By  the  middle  of  April,  1862,  5,(X>o  of  the  6,500  troops 
on  Pensacola  bay  were  withdrawn  beyond  the  state.'     By 

1  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  402,  403,  408. 

» Ibid.,  pp.  398,  404-412,  417,  83s,  838,  S57,  858,  862,  869. 

•  Ibid.,  pp.  841,  838. 

*  Special  Florida  correspondent  of  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Mar.  24,  1862. 

'^  Ibid.,  pp.  371,  409;  V.  14,  pp.  485,  488,  512,  530,  577.    See  also  regi- 
mental histories  in  Robertson,  Soldiers  of  Florida. 


BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES  IN  FLORIDA  149 

the  end  of  May  probably  3,000  of  the  4,000  troops  in  East 
and  Central  Florida  had  left/  The  defenses  along  the 
coast  were  partially  or  totally  dismantled.  The  ordnance 
was  removed  into  the  interior.  While  Confederate  forces 
were  leaving  the  state  for  the  West  a  Federal  army  was 
preparing  to  invade. 

*  Oif.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  passim. 


CHAPTER  VII 
Federal  Invasion 

Federal  invasion  quickly  followed  Confederate  aban- 
donment of  Florida  coast  defenses.  The  invasion  was  a 
component  part  of  an  extended  movement  down  the  At- 
lantic seaboard  from  Fortress  Monroe,  Virginia.  The  Fed- 
eral navy  department  elaborated  plans  early  in  July,  1861, 
for  this  proposed  advance  southward.  Fernandina,  Flor- 
ida, was  then  prominently  mentioned  as  an  objective  point. 
"  Fernandina  is  by  its  position  obviously  the  most  suitable 
point  for  a  place  of  deposit,"  reported  the  House  Com- 
mittee on  Naval  Affairs,  "  answering  at  one  end  of  the  line 
to  Hampton  Roads  at  the  other."  ^  This  town  is  in  ex- 
treme northeastern  Florida,  built  on  an  island,  and  near 
the  Georgia-Florida  state  line. 

Late  in  August,  1861,  Forts  Hatteras  and  Clark  on  the 
North  Carolina  coast  were  taken  by  the  Federal  expedition 
from  Fortress  Monroe.  On  November  7th,  General  T.  W. 
Sherman  took  Port  Royal,  S.  C.^  Logically  the  occupation  of 

*  Rpt.  Naval  Com.,  Off.  Reds.  Rebll,  s.  i,  v.  53,  supra,  pp.  64-73.  On 
July  5,  1861,  the  Du  Pont  Comit.  reported  to  Secy.  Welles  on  the  neces- 
sity of  occup3ring  Fernandina.  Its  population  was  estimated  by  the 
committee  at  1,000 ;  depth  at  bar,  14  feet ;  property :  valuable  wharves 
and  warehouses  of  the  Fla.  R.  R. ;  defense :  isolation  on  Amelia  Island 
made  it  easy  to  defend.  Fernandina  was  compared  with  Port  Royal, 
S.  C.  and  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  and  pronounced  the  best  place  for  a 
naval  and  military  station. 

*  Rhodes,  U.  S.,  v.  3,  pp.  489-90.  Hosmer,  Appeal  to  Arms,  pp.  74, 
112. 

ISO 


FEDERAL  INVASION  151 

Fernandina  was  soon  to  be  attempted/  General  Horatio 
Wright  on  the  last  day  of  January,  1862,  formally  proposed 
that  an  expedition  set  out  from  Port  Royal  for  Fernandina. 
His  chief,  General  McClellan,  approved  the  plan,  and  late  in 
February  a  combined  naval  and  military  force  was  ready  to 
proceed  to  Florida.^  The  people  of  the  lower  South  had  rea- 
son to  fear  this  steady  advance  by  sea  from  the  North.  It 
bade  fair  to  sweep  along  the  entire  southern  coast.  Gulf  as 
well  as  Atlantic.^  It  meant  invasion  with  the  attendant  de- 
struction of  life  and  property.  During  1862  extended  opera- 
tions did  not  occur  on  the  Gulf  coast  of  Florida.  In  this 
quarter,  however,  the  state  experienced  two  naval  raids  on 
its  unprotected  entrepots.  The  first  of  these  was  the  de- 
scent on  Cedar  Keys  in  January. 

During  the  Civil  War,  Key  West  was  an  important  dis- 
tributing center  for  war  news — particularly  news  concern- 
ing the  lower  South.  Both  Confederate  and  Federal  au- 
thorities obtained  information  in  the  town.  White  Union 
men  and  escaped  negroes  from  time  to  time  carried  there 
news  about  the  interior.  Confederate  sympathizers  in  the 
town  forwarded  information  to  the  mainland.*  News  that 
the  Confederate  coast  guard  at  Cedar  Keys  had  been  greatly 

^  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  207-9.  On  Dec.  19,  1861,  Sherman 
(T.  W.)  wrote  McClellan :  "  Du  Pont  thinks  he  will  be  ready  for  Fer- 
nandina in  a  week  or  two  " ;  and  on  Dec.  21,  to  Cameron,  "  I  have  for 
a  long  time  been  ready  for  Fernandina,  but  the  Navy  is  not ". 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  220,  225,  235.  Feb.  14th,  McClellan  wrote  Sherman :  "  The 
expedition  to  Fernandina  is  well  and  I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  that  it  is 
ours." 

»  N.  Y.  Times,  Mch.  19,  28,  1862.  A'^.  Y.  Herald.  Mch.  18,  1862,  letter 
of  Yulee.  Correspondence  of  Governor  Milton  in  Milton  Papers  and 
Off.  Reds.  Rebell.;  several  letters  of  Gov.  Shorter  in  Off.  Reds.  Rebell. 

*Ar.  Y.  Herald,  Mch.  2,  Oct.  26,  1862.  N.  Y.  Times,  Feb.  28,  1862; 
Mch.  18,  26,  1863.  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Mch.  9,  1863.  N.  Y.  World,  Mch. 
IS,  1863;  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.;  and  Navy;  and  Milton  Papers,  passim. 


1^2  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

reduced  and  that  several  ships  were  loading  there  prepara- 
tory to  running  the  blockade  reached  Key  West  in  Decem- 
ber, 1 86 1.  At  best  it  was  only  a  rumor,  but  being  a  very 
plausible  one,  it  might  have  sent  there  a  Federal  man-of- 
war  engaged  in  the  blockading.^ 

On  January  15th,  the  United  States  ship  Hatteras  from 
Key  West  entered  the  harbor  of  Cedar  Keys.  Few  inhabi- 
tants were  left  in  the  village.  The  remnant  of  the  Coast 
Guard,  twenty-two  strong — stationed  on  Sea  Horse  Key 
to  protect  property  from  thieves  and  "  Union  Men  " — 
quickly  decided  on  flight.^  They  ran  for  their  boat,  which 
was  a  flat-bottomed  scow.  They  attempted  frantically  to 
"  pole  "  the  boat  to  the  mainland.  On  reaching  deep  water 
their  poles  were  found  to  be  too  short  to  touch  bottom. 
In  their  hurry  they  had  forgotten  their  sweeps.  The  wind 
and  tide  caught  them  and  bore  them  out  toward  the  waiting 
Hatteras,  where  they  were  taken  aboard  as  prisoners  of 
war." 

Marines  and  sailors  from  the  Hatteras  were  sent  ashore. 
They  spiked  the  three  cannon  found  on  Sea  Horse  Key,  set 
afire  five  schooners  and  three  sloops  loaded  with  cotton  and 
turpentine  preparatory  to  running  the  blockade ;  burned  the 
railway  depot,  seven  freight  cars  and  a  warehouse  filled 
with  turpentine ;  and  pulled  down  all  telegraph  wires.* 
No  one  in  the  village  was  molested  because  no  one  was 
found  there,  probably,  who  was  not  professedly  a  Union 
sympathizer.  Union  men  in  the  neighborhood  were  given 
an  opportunity  to  subscribe  regularly  to  the  Federal  oath 

>  >Rpt  Gen.  Trapier,  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  74-77 ;  N.  Y. 
Herald,  Jan.  3,  1862. 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  17,  p.  51.    Rpt.  Gen.  Trapier  (C.  S.  A.). 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  76-77.    Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  17, 
pp.  48-51. 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  17,  pp.  48-50.     Report  of  Emmons. 


FEDERAL  INVASION 


153 


of  allegiance.  Several  negroes  ran  off  to  the  warship  in 
the  harbor,  but  not  being  desired  by  those  on  board  they 
were  promptly  sent  back  to  land.  The  Hatteras  soon  "with- 
drew to  sea."  ^ 

This  was  the  first  naval  raid  on  an  unprotected  Florida 
seaport.  Military  strength  at  Cedar  Keys  had  been  de- 
pleted to  strengthen  Fernandina,  which  was  the  Atlantic 
terminus  of  the  Florida  railroad,  and  as  a  result  the  Gulf 
terminus  of  this  road  had  been  almost  wiped  out  by  one 
small  gunboat.^  Mr.  Yulee,  ex-United  States  Senator  and 
president  of  the  road,  arrived  there  several  days  after  the 
catastrophe.' 

A  few  weeks  later  (February  28th)  the  Federal  expedi- 
tion for  the  occupation  of  East  Florida  sailed  from  Port 
Royal,  South  Carolina.*  The  fleet  comprised  some  twenty- 
four  or  twenty-five  steamships  and  eight  sailing  craft.  Eigh- 
teen of  the  steamers  were  gun-boats  or  armed  transports." 
A  brigade  of  infantry  was  aboard  under  the  command 
of  General  Horatio  Wright."  The  fleet  was  commanded 
by  Commodore  Du  Pont.  "  It  was  a  clear,  star-lit  night 
when  the  fleet  weighed  anchor  and  proceeded  southward."  ^ 
The  distance  from  Port  Royal  to  Fernandina  is  less  than 

'  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  74-77.  N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  25,  30; 
Feb.  14,  1862. 

■  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  17,  p.  51.  Statement  of  Gen.  Trapier  (C. 
S.  A.). 

»  Letter  of  Yulee  to  Lee.    N.  Y.  Herald,  Mch.  18,  1862. 

*  Du  Font's  Report.     Moore,  Retell.  Red.,  v.  iv,  p.  229. 

'  See  Moore,  Retell.  Red.,  v.  4,  p.  229;  N.  Y.  Times,  Mch.  15,  1862; 
N.  Y.  Herald.  Mch.  11,  1862;  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  12.  pp.  571-575. 

«  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  244;  Moore,  Retell.  Red.,  v.  4.  Dray- 
ton Report;  A'^.  Y.  Times,  Mch.  15,  1862.  The  troops  were  the  97th 
Penn.  and  4th  New  Hamp.  Infantry. 

*  Correspondent  of  A^.  Y.  Times  with  expedition  Mch.  15,  1862. 


154  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

150  miles.  The  flotilla  wound  its  way  slowly  along  the 
Georgia  coast,  which  is  washed  by  a  semi-tropical  ocean  and 
fringed  by  the  Sea  Islands,  that  lift  a  waving  cloud  of 
green  above  the  azure  of  the  sea.  The  shore  of  the  main- 
land is  sunk  almost  to  the  level  of  the  ocean  in  great,  deso- 
late, wind-swept  marshes  which  stretch  down  from  the 
North  and  touch  the  sea  in  "  beach  lines  that  linger  and  curl 
as  a  silver-wrought  garment  that  clings  to  and  follows  the 
firm,  sweet  limbs  of  a  girl."  Here  are  the  marshes  of 
Glynn.     Beyond  them  is  Florida. 

Near  the  southeastern  edge  of  Georgia,  Cumberland 
island  forms  with  the  mainland  St.  Andrews  sound.  This 
sound  afforded  a  way  by  water  to  Fernandina  in  the  rear  of 
the  heavy  guns  of  Fort  Clinch,  which  guarded  the  seaward 
approach  to  the  harbor.^  On  the  morning  of  March  2nd, 
the  fleet  cast  anchor  in  St.  Andrews  sound.  Information 
was  obtained  from  a  negro  that  Fernandina  was  being  evac- 
uated by  its  Confederate  garrison  and  deserted  by  its  in- 
habitants.^ After  some  delay  several  gunboats  were  sent 
ahead  to  Fernandina.^  The  negro  had  reported  correctly. 
The  town  was  being  abandoned.  Word  that  the  Federal 
fleet  had  sailed  from  Port  Royal  quickly  reached  Fernan- 
dina by  telegraph.  The  Confederate  garrison  at  Fort  Clinch 
began  the  removal  of  guns  and  ammunition.  The  inhabi- 
tants of  the  neighborhood  began  to  pack  their  personal  ef- 
fects and  collect  their  negroes  for  flight  into  the  interior. 
They  were  slow  to  turn  their  backs  on  their  homes.  Many 
lingered,  hoping  that  the  news  might  prove  untrue.     But 

*  See  map  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  12,  p.  620 ;  also  pp.  568-72. 

^ Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  12,  p.  572  (memorandum).  Moore,  RebelL 
Red.,  V.  4,  pp.  57,  229.  N.  Y.  Herald,  Mch.  18,  1862;  A^.  Y.  Times, 
Mch.  15,  1862, 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  12,  p.  573.  Du  Pont  to  Commodore 
Dra3rton  of  the  Pawnee. 


FEDERAL  INVASION  1 55 

alarming  dispatches  continued  to  arrive.  The  first  report 
was  confirmed,  and  during  Sunday  while  church  bells  were 
ringing,  women,  children,  old  men — black,  white,  slave,  and 
free — were  reluctantly  crossing  with  the  soldiers  to  the 
mainland,  and  moving  on  into  the  interior  away  from 
"  Yankee  "  invaders/ 

On  Monday  afternoon,  March  3rd,  the  advance  squadron 
came  into  the  bay.  As  the  gun-boats  approached,  the  last 
railway  train  pulled  out  from  the  station  at  Fernandina. 
The  cars  were  crowded  with  fugitives  and  piled  high  with 
household  goods.  Confederate  outposts  appeared  here  and 
there  on  the  seashore,  and,  firing  random  shots  at  the  boats, 
retreated  into  the  woods.  A  small  river  steamer  heavily 
laden  and  working  her  machinery  to  the  utmost  was  at- 
tempting to  escape  in  the  direction  of  the  St.  Marys  river. 
Smoke  poured  from  her  funnels.  The  forsaken  hamlet  on 
the  edge  of  the  sea  was  serene  in  the  bright  sunshine  of  this 
winter  afternoon.  A  white  flag  somewhere — perhaps  on 
the  most  prominent  pier — was  waving.  The  locomotive 
and  cars  began  the  passage  of  the  long  trestle  which  con- 
nected the  island  with  the  mainland.  The  leading  Federal 
gun-boat  opened  fire.  A  solid  shot  struck  the  last  car,  and 
tearing  through  tables,  chairs,  and  bedsteads,  killed  two 
boys  seated  on  a  sofa.  The  wrecked  car  with  its  dead  was 
detached  and  the  train,  amid  the  cannon  shots  of  pursuers, 
went  on  into  safety.^  The  flying  river  steamer  was  cap- 
tured after  a  long  chase.     Some  forty  women  and  children 

1  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  12,  pp.  pp.  573-75.  Moore,  Retell.  Reds., 
V.  4,  p.  229.  "  At  eight  o'clock  the  night  previous  a  telegram  was  re- 
ceived that  the  Federal  fleet  was  coming,"  reported  Du  Pont.  "  This 
news  seems  to  have  produced  a  perfect  panic,  as  by  twelve  o'clock  the 
next  day  the  garrison  which  consisted  of  1,500  men  and  almost  all  the 
inhabitants  had  gone  off." 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  12,  pp.  576-77. 


156  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

were  aboard.  Most  of  them  were  on  their  knees  engaged 
in  prayer  for  deliverance  from  the  Yankees,  "  battle,  mur- 
der, and  sudden  death  ".  The  skipper  who  directed  their 
flight  till  caught  by  the  Federal  gunboat  was  a  stout  New- 
Englander/ 

Early  the  next  morning  troops  were  landed.  The  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  families  remaining  in  and  about  Femandina 
were  peacefully  disposed.  Several  natives  "  made  money 
off  the  soldiers  "  by  sale  and  barter.  We  therefore  conclude 
that  the  policy  of  the  invaders  was  not  unduly  severe. 
General  Wright  posted  notices  that  the  persons  and  property 
of  the  "  Loyal  "  would  not  be  molested.  There  were  soon 
evidences  of  reviving  loyalty  under  such  stimulating  an- 
nouncements. The  property  of  those  who  had  fled  the  town 
and  of  those  known  to  be  disloyal  was  appropriated  by  the 
Federal  commissary  department.  This  mode  of  acquiring 
forfeited  property  had  its  difficulties.  "  Loyal  "  individ- 
uals in  Fernandina  claimed  the  property  of  friends  who  had 
fled,  which  reduced  the  amount  to  be  confiscated  by  the 
army.  A  quantity  of  rice,  cotton,  whiskey,  molasses,  and 
turpentine  was  seized;  and  also  a  locomotive,  several  rail- 
way cars,  and  two  blockade-runners  in  cargo.  General 
Wright  expressed  the  opinion  that,  with  few  exceptions, 
those  remaining  in  Fernandina  were  Confederate  sympa- 
thizers.^ 

On  March  8th,  in  the  afternoon,  a  Federal  squadron  of 
four  gunboats,  two  armed  launches  and  a  transport  with 
the  4th  New  Hampshire  Infantry  sailed  from  Fernandina 
for  Jacksonville  and  St.  Augustine.^     When  the  ships  ar- 

»  N.  Y.  Times,  Mch.  15,  1862.  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  244. 
Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  4,  pp.  57,  229. 

*  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  4,  pp.  57,  229  A'^.  Y.  Times,  Mch.  15,  1862. 
N.  Y.  Herald,  Mch.  18,  1862.    Naval  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  12,  pp.  573-585. 

»  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  12,  pp.  586-588. 


FEDERAL  INVASION 


157 


rived  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Johns  anchors  were  cast  and 
a  boat  sent  ashore.  Negroes  reported  that  Jacksonville 
was  being  abandoned  and  that  the  fortifications  along  the 
lower  St.  Johns  had  been  dismantled. 

The  portion  of  the  squadron  ordered  to  Jacksonville 
crossed  the  bar  of  the  St.  Johns  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
iith.^  Near  nightfall  of  this  day,  while  the  Federal  ships 
were  at  anchor  twenty  miles  away,  several  hundred  irregu- 
lar Confederate  troops  arrived  in  Jacksonville  on  the  rail- 
way train  with  orders  from  General  Trapier  to  bum  that 
property  which  might  be  of  use  to  the  enemy.^  Consternation 
quickly  spread  among  the  remaining  inhabitants  of  Jack- 
sonville. Much  of  the  property  in  and  about  the  town  was 
owned  by  Union  sympathizers.  The  Confederate  soldiers 
w^ho  came  with  orders  to  destroy  came  with  the  intention 
of  intimidating  Union  men.  At  dusk  the  torch  was  applied 
to  saw-mills  along  the  St.  Johns  and  the  warehouses  at- 
tached ;  in  Jacksonville,  to  a  foundry,  machine  shops,  hotels, 
warehouses,  the  railway  station,  a  business  block,  and  a  few 
dwelling-houses.  The  loss  amounted  to  more  than  a  half 
million  dollars.  Rowdyism  by  the  irregular  troops  accom- 
panied the  destruction.  Stores  were  broken  open  and  plun- 
dered. The  most  offensive  of  the  Union  sympathizers  fled 
across  the  river  and  found  safety  in  hiding  till  picked  up 
by  Federal  troops.  Those  on  board  the  ships  near  the 
mouth  of  the  river  saw  in  the  sky  the  eerie  reflection  of  the 
burning  property.' 

The  next  day  dawned  damp  and  cold.     Seabirds  were 

^  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  4,  pp.  283,  293.  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Mch.  24, 
1862.    N.  Y.  Herald,  Mch.  20,  1862. 

»  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  414. 

•  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  4,  p.  293.  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Mch.  24,  1862  N.  Y. 
Times,  Mch.  20,  Apr.  2,  1862.  N.  Y.  Express,  Apr.  7,  1862.  N.  Y. 
Herald,  Mch.  20  (containing  itemized  list  of  property  destroyed), 
Mch.  31,   1862. 


158  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

flying  low  and  no  wind  blew  from  the  ocean.  Through  a 
foggy  atmosphere  the  squadron  proceeded  up  the  river. 
The  charred  ruins  left  by  the  Confederate  "  regulators  " 
were  still  smouldering  when  the  boats  cast  anchor  off  Jack- 
sonville.^ A  deputation  from  Jacksonville  headed  by  a  Mr. 
Burritt — called  "  a  Northern  man  " — came  aboard  the  flag- 
ship to  surrender  the  town,  pledge  the  good  behavior  of  its 
citizens,  and  pray  for  protection  against  further  vandalism.* 
Mr.  Burritt  stated  to  Captain  Stevens,  the  fleet  commander, 
that  the  past  night  had  been  one  of  terror  and  that  the  opin- 
ion of  the  people  of  Jacksonville  was  singularly  unanimous 
on  the  subject  of  the  war.  "  It  is  believed  to  be  unwise,  un- 
provoked, and  unjust,"  he  said.  He  frankly  represented  the 
people  as  not  being  in  sympathy  with  the  Union.'  "  There 
was  no  enthusiasm  or  feeling  of  any  kind  shown  by  the 
people  on  the  arrival  of  the  Union  troops,"  writes  one  ob- 
server. "  Captain  Stevens  is  confident  of  a  strong  Union 
sentiment  among  the  people  and  that  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  State  is  weary  of  the  rebellion  and  will  return 
to  its  duty,"  he  continued. 

No  such  inference  could  be  drawn  from  anything  that  I  have 
heard  publicly  or  privately.  I  talked  with  many  persons,  and 
nowhere  was  expressed  love  for  the  Union.  If  any  sentiment 
predominates,  it  is  loyalty  to  the  State.  The  Confederate 
Government,  they  say,  has  deserted  them  and  has  no  claim  to 
their  fealty.* 

*  Account  from  Philadelphia  Press,  Moore,  Rehell.  Red.,  v.  4. 
'  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  12,  p.  599. 

*  The  mayor  of  Jacksonville  issued  a  proclamation  on  Mch.  7,  1862, 
stating  that  the  city  council  after  deliberation  with  the  Confederate 
military  authorities  had  decided  to  make  no  eflfort  to  defend  Jackson- 
ville. He  counseled  the  people  to  remain  in  their  homes  and  pursue 
their  usual  vocations.    Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  12,  p.  500. 

*  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Mch.  24,  1862,  special  correspondent  with  expedi- 
tion. 


FEDERAL  INVASION  1 59 

Captain  Stevens  reported :  "  From  conversation  with  intel- 
ligent citizens  I  find  that  inhabitants  are  seeking  and  wait- 
ing for  the  protection  of  our  flag;  that  they  do  not  fear  us 
but  their  own  people,"  ^  while  another  person  stated :  "  Our 
(Federal) reception  was  not  enthusiastic.  They  looked  as 
if  they  could  not  help  it."  ^ 

The  truth  was  that  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jackson- 
ville had  departed  ere  the  invaders  arrived.  Those  who 
departed  were  hostile  to  the  Union  and  those  who  remained 
were  divided  in  sentiment.  The  Union  sympathizers  were 
mostly  prosperous  town  merchants,  lumbermen,  and  real- 
estate  dealers  who  had  recently  come  into  Florida  from  the 
North  and  who  being  "  unwilling  to  relinquish  so  much  val- 
uable property,  remained  to  protect  it  ".  They  vehemently 
urged  the  retention  of  the  town  by  Federal  troops.  Within 
a  week  General  T.  W.  Sherman  arrived  and  following  his 
arrival  were  inaugurated  some  rather  premature  measures 
to  reconstruct  Florida  politically.^  There  was  little  worth 
holding  in  Jacksonville  and  the  Union  men  were  desper- 
ately trying  to  make  their  case  as  plausible  as  possible.  This 
case  will  be  considered  further  on. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  part  of  the  squadron  which 
set  out  from  Femandina  on  March  8th  was  ordered  to  St. 
Augustine.  A  Federal  gun-boat  anchored  off  the  town  on 
the  nth,  and  in  the  early  afternoon  Commander  Rodgers 
and  a  Mr.  Dennis,  of  the  coast  survey,  unescorted  by  troops, 
entered  the  harbor  in  a  small  boat.  They  were  met  at  the 
principal  pier  by  Mayor  Bravo  and  a  curiosity-stricken 
crowd  who  amicably,  though  without  cheering,  escorted  the 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  12,  p.  600. 

*  Moore,  Retell.  Red.,  v.  4,  account  from  Phila.  Press. 

»  N.  Y.  Times,  Apr.  2,  1862.    N.  Y.  Herald,  Mch.  20,  Apr.  11,  1862. 
Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  4,  pp.  325,  349. 


l6o  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Federal  officers  to  the  town-hall.  There,  in  the  presence  of 
mayor  and  council  and  the  two  Federal  officials,  the  town 
was  formally  surrendered/ 

The  people  of  St.  Augustine  seemed  less  perturbed  than 
those  of  Fernandina  and  Jacksonville.  About  one-fifth  of 
the  2,000  inhabitants  had  left  the  town  on  the  approach  of 
the  Federal  warship.  The  small  Confederate  garrison  had 
retired  into  the  interior  the  night  before.^  Rodgers  visited 
the  clergymen  of  St.  Augustine,  talked  peace  and  good-will 
to  them,  and  directed  that  they  use  their  best  efforts  to  re- 
assure the  people  concerning  the  kind  intentions  of  the  Fed- 
eral government.  "  I  believe  many  citizens  are  earnestly 
attached  to  the  Union,"  wrote  Rodgers  from  St.  Augustine, 
"  a  large  number  silently  opposed  to  it,  and  a  still  larger 
number  who  care  very  little  about  the  matter.  I  think  that 
nearly  all  the  men  acquiesce  in  the  condition  of  affairs."  ^ 

The  only  bellicose  spirits  in  this  rather  peaceful  war-time 
episode  were  some  patriotic  ladies.  "  They  seem  to  mistake 
treason  for  courage,"  angrily  reported  the  Federal  com- 
mander, "  and  have  a  theatrical  desire  to  figure  as  hero- 
ines." *  He  had  found  the  flag-pole  at  Fort  Marion  cut 
down  when  he  arrived.  The  men  said  the  women  did  it, 
and  one  woman,  a  widow,  informed  Rodgers  to  his  face, 
"  that  the  men  had  behaved  like  cowards,  but  that  there 
were  stout  hearts  in  other  bosoms  (striking  her  own)." 
This  accounts  probably  for  Rodger's  outburst.'' 

To  recapitulate  the  military  situation  in  East  Florida  by 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  12,  pp.  595-596.    Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  4, 
passim. 

'  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  12,  p.  596. 

•  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  4,  p.  326. 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  12,  p.  596. 

•  Ibid.,  p.  601. 


FEDERAL  INVASION  l6i 

the  middle  of  March,  1862 :  the  coast  from  St.  Augustine 
north  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Federal  military  or  under  the 
guns  of  the  fleet;  the  Confederate  troops  remaining  had 
fallen  back  twenty  or  thirty  miles  to  Sanderson  and  Bald- 
win;^ bodies  of  "bushwhackers"  and  irregular  cavalry 
moved  here  and  there  through  the  scrub  and  along  the 
lonely,  sandy  trails  of  East  Florida  seeking  to  hang  the  dis- 
loyal; a  large  portion  of  the  native  population  had  retired 
into  the  interior  to  avoid  the  Federal  invasion;  a  half- 
million  dollars  worth  of  property  had  been  burned  at  Jack- 
sonville by  Confederate  orders ;  the  Confederate  military  in 
Florida  was  steadily  moving  out  of  the  state  for  Tennessee 
and  Virgina;  Governor  Milton  and  others  were  vigorously 
petitioning  the  Confederate  war  department  to  have  the 
troops  retained  in  Florida;  ^  and  as  the  white  dogwood  of 
early  spring  festooned  the  borders  of  the  spacious  fields  of 
the  interior  the  wiser  ones  among  the  elders  who  directed 
the  planting  and  herding  which  was  the  life  of  the  state 
must  have  entertained  grave  fears  that  enemies  would  share 
the  harvest  there. 

The  Gulf  coast  was  still  held  by  the  Confederacy.  A 
veteran  Baptist  preacher  recalling  memories  of  Apalachi- 
cola  at  that  time  wrote : 

Our  battalion  was  increased  to  about  1,200  men.  We  guarded 
Apalachicola  and  adjacent  islands.  The  general  and  all  the 
field  officers  drank.  We  had  fine  bands  and  they  frequently 
serenaded  us.  .  .  .  One  day  the  Lieut.-Col.  came  to  me  and 
said  that  I  loved  music  and  that  the  band  had  to  be  treated. 

»  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  276,  287,  288,  298,  301,  355.  The 
troops  in  East  Florida  were  the  3rd  and  4th  Fla.  Infy.  (Confed. 
Army),  several  companies  of  ist  Fla.  Battalion,  Infy.,  and  irregular 
bodies  of  horse  and  artillery. 

'  Letters  of  Milton  to  Lee  and  Benjamin,  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v 
6,  pp.  400,  404. 


l62  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

I  told  him  that  I  would  not  treat  my  father  if  he  were  to  rise 
from  the  dead;  but  to  show  him  that  it  was  not  money  but 
principle  with  me,  I  said  that  if  he  would  serenade  me  as  a 
Christian  I  would  treat  them  as  Qiristians.  .  .  .  About  nine 
o'clock  the  band  and  singers  came.  They  opened  up  at  my 
room  at  full  blast  on  that  grand  hymn,  "  Before  Jehovah's 
Awful  Throne  Ye  Nations  Bow  with  Sacred  Awe."  The 
moon  was  bright.  Our  headquarters  were  on  the  Bay.  The 
sound  of  the  many  instruments  and  fine  voices  swept  over  the 
Bay,  and  all  the  air  seemed  alive  with  music.  The  old  general 
came  to  my  door  and  knocked,  exclaiming  that  he  had  never 
heard  anything  like  that.  And  I  never  have — before  or  since. 
.  .  .  There  are  no  songs  like  the  songs  of  Zion. 

The  chaplain  had  promised  to  treat  the  singers  as  Chris- 
tians.   He  accordingly  treated  them  to  oysters.^ 

The  tragic  march  of  events  abruptly  ended  garrison  duty 
and  oyster-suppers  at  Apalachicola.^  The  disbanding  of 
the  state  militia  by  order  of  the  Florida  convention  and  the 
steady  withdrawal  of  Confederate  troops  for  service  in 
Tennessee  forced  the  abandonment  of  the  town  by  the  mili- 
tary. The  Federal  blockading  squadron  hovered  off  the 
coast.  People  expected  Apalachicola  sooner  or  later  to 
experience  the  fate  of  Cedar  Keys,  Jacksonville,  St.  Au- 
gustine, and  Fernandina;  therefore  many  inhabitants  fol- 
lowed the  retiring  troops  into  the  interior.  The  blockaders 
demanded  in  March  that  the  town  be  surrendered  and  that 
the  people  forthwith  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
Union.  Whereupon  a  committee  of  citizens — among  them 
the  Roman  Catholic  priest — responded :  "  The  city  is  de- 
fenseless. There  are  no  soldiers  or  any  arms;  but  there  is 
no  one  having  authority  to  surrender  it."     The  answer 

'  Richardson,  Lights  and  Shadows  of  Itinerant  Life,  p.  173. 
'  Governor's  Message,  Nov.  17,  1862.    Milton  Papers,  MSS. 


FEDERAL  INVASION  163 

closed  with  the  opinion  that  there  was  "  no  one  who  would 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance  except  some foreigners."  ^ 

The  expected  visitation  from  the  Federals  soon  followed 
this  candid  reply.  On  the  night  of  April  2nd,  a  boat  ex- 
pedition put  off  from  the  two  Federal  warships  blockading 
the  harbor  and  the  next  day  Apalachicola  was  occupied  by 
a  small  force  of  marines  and  sailors — called  a  "  large  and 
well-armed  force  "  by  its  enthusiastic  commander.^  The 
town  presented  a  desolate  appearance.  The  batteries  were 
dismantled;  the  warehouses  and  shops  were  closed;  the 
streets  and  wharves  were  deserted;  the  harbor  was  empty 
of  ships.  Perhaps  500  people  out  of  a  population  of  2,500 
remained.  Those  left  behind  were  mostly  poor  whites  and 
free  negroes.  Destitution  was  apparent — no  flour,  no 
sugar,  no  meat,  and  very  little  corn.  The  people  were  de- 
pendent on  fish  and  oysters  for  subsistence.* 

They  gathered  silently  and  respectfully  about  the  group 
of  Federal  soldiers  and  listened  to  the  words  of  the  com- 
mander, Stellwagen.  "It  was  really  affecting,"  he  reported, 
"  to  see  the  crowd,  principally  women  and  children."  *  He 
magnanimously  granted  them  permission  to  fish  in  what 
they  had  been  wont  to  consider  their  own  bay,  and  he  fol- 
lowed this  with  permission  to  use  their  own  fishing  boats 
as  long  as  they  did  not  aid  blockade-runners.  A  man  in  the 
crowd  called  out :  "  Captain,  some  of  our  boys  [meaning 
negroes]  have  gone  to  your  ship.  Will  they  be  given 
up?"  "No,"  replied  the  commander.  "They  have  been 
used  to  transport  soldiers  and  arms,  in  building  fortifica- 
tions and  a  gunboat  to  be  used  against  the  United  States. 
You  will  never  get  relief  for  their  loss."  '     The  marines 

^  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  17,  p.  203.  ^  Ibid.,  pp.  201-205. 

^N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  21,  1862;  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  4,  p.  76. 
*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  17,  p.  203. 
^  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  21,  1862;  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  17,  pp.  203-4. 


1 64  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

moved  up  the  river,  capturing  a  schooner  loaded  with  cot- 
ton and  a  sloop  loaded  with  coffee  from  Havana.  The  pilot 
boats  in  the  harbor  were  burned  and  the  Federal  force  with- 
drew to  their  ships  at  sea.^ 

This  comparatively  unimportant  affair  at  Apalachicola 
alarmed  the  people  of  the  lower  Chattahoochee  valley.  The 
town  of  Columbus,  Georgia,  reluctantly  made  common 
cause  with  the  governor  of  Florida  in  preparations  to  de- 
fend the  valley.  The  Columbus  city  council  voted  funds 
for  obstructing  navigation  above  Apalachicola.^  More  than 
50,000  bales  of  cotton  were  stored  at  Columbus;  20,000  at 
the  town  of  Eufaula,  Alabama  (on  the  Chattahoochee)  ; 
and  probably  10,000  bales  at  other  points  along  the  river.* 
Herds  of  cattle  and  cribs  of  corn  in  the  valley  of  the  Chatta- 
hoochee made  that  section  important  as  a  source  of  food 
supply. 

A  powerful  submerged  boom  was  constructed  across  the 
Apalachicola  river  a  few  miles  north  of  the  town;  ten 
cannon  were  mounted  behind  earthworks  at  Ricco's  Bluffs ; 
and  the  6th  Florida  Infantry  and  Holland's  Independent 
Florida  Battalion  were  stationed  there.*  The  valley  of  the 
Chattahoochee  was  in  fact  effectually  barricaded  for  any 
but  a  formidable  force. 

The  next  point  to  be  abandoned  by  the  Confederates  was 
Pensacola.  Governor  Shorter,  of  Alabama,  advised  the  war 
department  to  retain  this  port;  and  for  its  defense  he  had 
sent  there  from  time  to  time  more  than  2,000  Alabama 
troops.  The  outlook  for  Pensacola  in  1862  was  gloomy. 
The  saw-mills  in  the  vicinity  were  closed.     Logging  oper- 

»  Off.  Reds.  Rebeli,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  286-288,  412.    Naval  War  Reds.,  s. 
i,  V.  17,  pp.  201-205. 
»  Off.  Reds.  Rebfill.,  s.  i,  v.  14,  pp.  553,  686-7,  731,  735-6. 
^  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  53,  sup.,  p.  237,  estimate  of  Gen.  Finegan  (C.  S.  A.). 
*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  6,  pp.  848,  853,  862,  870,  871. 


FEDERAL  INVASION  1 65 

ations  had  ceased.  Here  as  in  the  other  coast  towns  many 
people  had  moved  away.  "  There  is  much  anxiety  among 
our  citizens,"  reported  one  inhabitant.  "  Merchants  are 
packing  up  and  families  are  leaving."  ^  Bad  characters 
took  advantage  of  the  absence  of  men  from  home  to  steal 
or  bully  a  living  from  unprotected  families.  Late  in  March, 
1862,  Colonel  Jones,  commanding  at  Barrancas,  declared  by 
proclamation  that 

there  are  certain  hungry,  worthless  people,  white  as  well  as 
colored,  who  frequent  Pensacola  and  vicinity  and  who  have 
no  observable  occupation.  Their  intentions  may  be  honest,  but 
the  colonel  commanding  does  not  believe  it,  and  as  he  has  no 
use  for  their  presence  they  are  warned  to  leave  or  the  conse- 
quences must  be  on  their  own  heads.  The  gallows  is  erected 
at  Pensacola  and  will  be  in  constant  use  after  the  3d  of  April, 
1862.     The  town  is  under  complete  martial  law.^ 

Preparations  to  abandon  Pensacola  included  the  destruc- 
tion of  much  private  property.  On  March  7th,  1862,  Colonel 
John  Beard,  of  the  Confederate  army  at  Pensacola,  was  or- 
dered to  **  destroy  every  foot  of  lumber,  all  saw-mills,  boats, 
etc.,"  in  the  vicinity  of  Pensacola.  "  Everything  which 
might  be  of  service  to  the  enemy,"  ran  his  instructions,  "  in 
order  that  if  we  are  forced  to  abandon  this  place  nothing 
of  value  will  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy."  " 

On  March  nth,  before  daybreak.  Colonel  Beard  and  a 
company  of  infantry  set  out  from  Pensacola  for  the  work  of 
destruction.    By  daylight  the  mills  of  Wm.  Miller  on  East 

^Mobile  Register,  quoted  in  N.  Y.  Times,  Mch.  28,  1862.  See  also 
correspondence  of  Bragg  and  Jones,  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6.  pp. 
83s,  838,  841,  846,  857-    N.  Y.  Herald,  Mch.  12,  Apr.  21,  1862. 

'  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  4,  p.  72. 

•  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  846. 


l66  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

bay  were  afire.  At  Milton,  Bluff  Springs,  Bagdad  and 
many  other  places  along  the  Blackwater  and  Escambia 
rivers  property  was  burned — saw-mills,  lumber,  warehouses, 
naval  stores,  boats,  two  Confederate  gun-boats,  and  forage, 
clothing  and  food  supplies  not  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
life  of  the  inhabitants.  Booms  were  cut  and  rafts  of  timber 
set  adrift.  Beard  reported  a  "  loyal  spirit "  among  the 
people.  Certainly  this  was  a  terrible  ordeal  for  some.  They 
saw  their  worldly  wealth  disappear  in  smoke  and  ashes — a 
sacrifice  to  the  Confederacy.  Whatever  were  the  true  sen- 
timents of  the  unfortunates,  they  failed  to  leave  record  of 
such  decidedly  anti-Confederate  sentiments  as  did  the 
property  holders  in  East  Florida.^ 

Two  months  passed  before  the  Confederate  troops  finally 
evacuated  Pensacola.  When  Colonel  Thomas  Jones  took 
command  at  Barrancas  on  March  9th,  his  instructions  were 
to  remove  as  rapidly  as  possible  all  machinery  and  other 
movable  property  from  the  navy-yard.^  For  two  months 
this  removal  slowly  proceeded.  On  receipt  of  news  that  a 
Federal  fleet  had  passed  the  batteries  below  New  Orleans, 
Jones  at  once  began  the  removal  of  his  heaviest  artillery.' 
General  Robert  E.  Lee,  commanding  the  department  includ- 
ing Florida,  ordered  him  to  shift  his  entire  force  to  Mobile 
if  that  point  was  threatened  by  the  Federal  fleet.*  Late  in 
the  afternoon  of  May  7th  a  dispatch  reached  Jones  that  the 
fleet  had  appeared  off  Mobile  and  that  the  forts  had  been 
fired  on.    The  moment  for  quitting  Pensacola  had  arrived."^ 

»  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  849,  856,  859-60;  N.  Y.  Times,  Apr. 
19,  1862.    Milton  Papers,  memorandum  of  property  destroyed. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  660,  841,  848,  856. 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  18,  pp.  482-486  (Report  of  Jones) 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  824. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  660. 


FEDERAL  INVASION  1 67 

The  8th  Mississippi  Infantry  set  out  for  Mobile  early  the 
next  morning,  and  the  three  companies  of  cavalry  and  two 
companies  of  infantry  remaining  began  the  removal  of  the 
sick  and  the  camp  baggage  to  Oak  Field — six  miles  north 
of  Pensacola.  After  nightfall  on  May  9th  the  infantry 
began  its  march  to  Oak  Field  and  the  cavalry  prepared  to 
begin  the  destruction  of  the  property  about  their  abandoned 
fortifications. 

"  Precisely  at  1 1 130  o'clock,  when  everything  was  per- 
fectly quiet,  both  on  the  enemy's  side  and  ours,  the  most 
painful  office  it  was  ever  my  duty  to  perform  fell  to  my  lot; 
namely,  the  signalling  for  the  destruction  of  the  beautiful 
place  which  I  had  labored  so  hard  night  and  day  to  defend," 
reported  Colonel  Jones.  ^  Two  rockets  were  set  off  at 
the  Marine  Hospital  (situated  between  the  navy-yard  and 
Barrancas).  Scarcely  had  the  thin  blue  flame  of  the  rock- 
ets disappeared  ere  the  public  buildings,  camp  tents  and 
every  combustible  thing  from  the  navy-yard  to  McRee  were 
enveloped  in  flames.  Oil  and  grease  and  gunpowder  had 
been  spread  about.  "  The  scene  was  grand  and  sublime," 
wrote  one  correspondent.  "  The  Bay  was  as  light  as  mid- 
day while  the  murky  clouds  overhead  reflected  back  an  ap- 
parently liquid  sea  of  fire."  ^  The  reflection  of  the  con- 
flagration was  seen  by  the  blockading  squadron  out  at  sea. 
"  At  two  A.  M.,"  wrote  Admiral  Porter,  "  a  brilliant  light 
illumined  the  sky."  ' 

A  few  minutes  later  and  those  at  the  yard  saw  the  flames 
of  burning  property  at  Pensacola.  The  Federal  batteries 
on  Santa  Rosa  island  opened  on  the  burning  barracks  and 
forts  opposite — the  object  being,  probably,  to  prevent  the 
spread  of  the  flames.     At  Pensacola  the  destruction  was 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  18,  pp.  482-486. 

'  Moore,  Rehell.  Red.,  v.  5,  p.  48,  from  Mobile  Register. 

'  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  18,  p.  479. 


1 68  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

confined  to  the  quarter-master's  storehouses,  an  oil  fac- 
tory, and  two  steamers.  All  telegraph  wires  and  poles 
were  pulled  down.  A  river  steamer  loaded  with  machinery 
and  stores  was  sent  up  the  Escambia  river  and  her  captain 
was  ordered  to  obstruct  the  river  with  timber  and  debris 
to  prevent  pursuit.^ 

Next  morning,  May  loth,  acting-Mayor  Brosenham  sur- 
rendered the  town  to  the  Federal  authorities.^  An  officer 
with  a  small  guard  had  been  sent  there  from  Fort  Pickens 
soon  after  daybreak.  "  The  town  appeared  to  be  deserted. 
Grass  was  growing  in  the  street  and  everything  was  wear- 
ing a  sad  and  forlorn  appearance."  ^  A  few  hours  later  the 
warship  Harriet  Lane,  with  Commander  David  Porter 
aboard,  steamed  into  the  harbor.  Mr.  Brosenham  went 
aboard  and  assured  the  commander  that  the  people  of  Pen- 
sacola  would  respect  Federal  authority.*  There  was  no 
other  reasonable  course  left  open. 

Formal  military  possession  of  the  town  was  taken  next 
day  (May  nth)  by  Brigadier-General  Arnold  and  several 
companies  of  Federal  troops.  The  soldiers  stood  in  hollow 
square  about  the  flag-staflf  in  the  center  of  the  Plaza  as  the 
United  States  flag  went  up.  General  Arnold  settled  himself 
comfortably  in  the  home  of  Colonel  Chase,  who  had  fled 
from  Pensacola,  and  Colonel  Wilson,  of  the  New  York 
Zouaves,  made  his  headquarters  in  the  home  of  Secretary 
Mallory  of  the  Confederate  navy."*     Proclamations  were 

»  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  660-665 ;  N.  Y.  Herald,  May  19, 
1862;  N.  Y.  Tribune,  May  22,  1862. 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  18,  p.  480;  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  6, 
p.  658. 

»JV.  Y.  Herald,  May  19,  1862;  N.  Y.  Tribune,  May  22,  1862;  Moore, 
Rebell.  Red.,  v.  5,  passim. 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  18,  p.  480. 

^  N.  Y.  Times,  May  ?,  1862  (Townsend  Lib.,  Columbia  University). 


FEDERAL  INVASION  169 

posted  about  the  town  setting  forth  the  duty  of  "  good 
and  loyal  "  citizens.^  Most  of  the  Southern  sympathizers 
here  as  in  East  Florida  had  departed  with  their  negroes  and 
other  movable  property  before  the  Federal  troops  arrived." 

Pensacola,  Fernandina,  and  St.  Augustine  passed  per- 
manently into  Union  hands  in  1862.  They  were  occupied 
by  Union  troops  for  the  rest  of  the  war.  Jacksonville, 
however,  was  abandoned  a  week  after  its  capture  in  April.' 
General  Sherman  stated  that  the  sole  object  in  occupying 
the  town  was  political.*  When  the  Federal  house  of  repre- 
sentatives requested  Secretary  Stanton  to  give  an  explana- 
tion of  the  sudden  abandonment  of  Jacksonville,  that  offi- 
cial refused  for  reasons  "  not  compatible  with  the  public 
interest."  *  The  withdrawal  of  the  military  was  a  serious 
reverse  for  the  Union  men  of  the  town.  They  departed 
with  the  troops.  Some  fifty  or  sixty  went  to  New  York 
City  and  the  public  press  took  up  their  case  so  piteously  that 
the  city  council  voted  $1,000  for  their  immediate  relief.' 

Six  months  after  its  abandonment  by  the  Union  army, 
Jacksonville  was  re-occupied,  but  only  for  a  short  time.^ 
The  expedition  left  Hilton  Head,  South  Carolina,  on  Sep- 
tember 30th,  1862.®  It  consisted  of  the  47th  Pennsylvania 
and  7th  Connecticut  Infantry,  one  section  of  the  ist  Con- 
necticut Light  Artillery,  and  a  detachment  of  the  ist  Massa- 
chusetts Cavalry — in  all   1,573  t^^^-     They  were  aboard 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  659;  N.  Y.  Herald,  June  i,  1862. 
'  N.  Y.  Times,  Mch.  22,  June  2,  1862. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  6,  pp.  124-127. 

*  Letter  to  Phil.  Frazer,  N.  Y.  Ev.  Express,  July,  1862   (Townsend 
Library). 

*  Rpt.  of  Stanton,  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  30,  1862. 

*  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  22,  1862;  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  6,  p.  125. 
'  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  14,  p.  127. 

*  Naval  War  Reds,,  s.  i,  v.  13,  p.  357. 


lyo  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

four  transports  and  convoyed  by  six  gunboats/  The  fleet 
entered  the  St.  Johns  river  on  the  afternoon  of  October 
1st' 

A  Confederate  force  was  stoutly  entrenched  at  St.  Johns 
Bluff  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  between  Jacksonville 
and  the  sea.  Under  the  direction  of  General  Finegan  ten 
guns — taken  probably  from  Fort  Clinch — had  been  mounted 
on  the  bluffs  early  in  September.^  The  Federal  gunboats 
engaged  the  batteries  on  the  afternoon  of  October  ist.  At 
night  troops  were  put  ashore  between  the  batteries  and  the 
sea.  The  next  day  (October  2nd)  the  Union  forces  ad- 
vanced upon  the  Confederate  works  by  flank  and  rear.  The 
country  was  swampy,  overgrown  with  brush,  and  inter- 
laced with  small  creeks  and  bayous.  This  made  a  rapid 
movement  impossible  and  prevented  the  effective  use  of 
field  artillery.  But  the  attacking  land  force  had  the  help 
of  war-ships  and  the  Confederates  were  only  about  500 
strong  and  poorly  equipped.*  After  some  sharp  skirmish- 
ing with  the  Federal  advance  guard  the  garrison  hastily 
withdrew  from  its  position  on  St.  Johns  Bluff,  already 
under  bombardment  by  the  gunboats.'*  The  retiring  troops 
were  threatened  in  rear  by  the  Federal  army  and  in  front 
by  the  navy.  They  left  their  batteries  and  magazines  prac- 
tically intact.  "  I  am  utterly  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the 
sudden  evacuation,"  reported  the  Federal  commander." 
General   Finegan   of   the   Confederate   army   himself   ex- 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  14,  p.  129.    Commander  Chas.  Steedman 
led  this  expedition. 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  13,  p.  2'^2. 
»  Ibid.,  pp.  326,  357. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  14,  pp.  129,  138,  139. 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  13,  pp.  356,  362.     St.  Johns  Bluff  was  oc- 
cupied October  3rd,  p.  363. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i.  v.  14,  p.  127. 


FEDERAL  INVASION  171 

pressed  the  opinion  that  the  garrison  at  St.  Johns  Bluff  was 
sufficiently  strong  to  have  held  the  place. 

After  the  Confederate  evacuation  of  the  bluff,  Federal 
troops  moved  cautiously  toward  Jacksonville.  The  gun- 
boats advanced  up  the  river  shelling  the  shore  at  intervals. 
The  invaders  met  with  no  opposition.  One  detachment 
came  upon  a  hastily  evacuated  camp  with  "  a  sumptous  meal 
already  prepared  for  eating."  In  the  center  of  the  table 
was  a  meat  pie,  still  warm.  Another  detachment  entered 
a  small  camp  as  its  occupants  sought  the  woods,  leaving  be- 
hind them  fifty  stands  of  arms.  The  few  Confederate 
troops  seemed  demoralized  and  surprised.^ 

On  October  3rd,  a  detachment  of  Union  troops  entered 
Jacksonville.^  Many  of  its  inhabitants  had  left.  Its  busi- 
ness was  dead.  The  people  in  the  St.  Johns  valley  already 
were  "  living  in  a  most  destitute  condition."  ' 

As  long  as  St.  Johns  Bluff  and  the  river  were  held  by 
Federal  forces,  Jacksonville  could  be  re-occupied  at  pleas- 
ure. Therefore,  after  ruthless  raiding  and  burning  by 
troops  on  gunboats  for  200  miles  up  the  St.  Johns  river,* 
the  town  was  again  deserted  by  Federal  troops,  who  carried 
away  with  them  a  few  negroes  and  a  few  white  refugees." 
A  small  garrison  was  left  at  St.  Johns  Bluff  and  the  Federal 
war-ships  patrolled  the  mouth  of  the  river. 

The  following  spring  (March,  1863),  Jacksonville  was  a 
third  time  occupied  by  Federal  troops.  They  came  to  col- 
lect negro  recruits,  to  plunder,  and  probably  to  inaugurate 

1  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  14,  p.  133. 
'  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  13,  p.  363, 

*  Ibid.,  p.  369. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  361,  366-371. 

*  N.  Y.  Herald,  Oct.  19,  1862 ;  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  13,  pp.  368, 
etc. 


172 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


some  vague  plans  of  "  loyal  "  political  reconstruction/  "  It 
was  urged  that  it  was  worth  while  to  risk  something  in  the 
effort  to  hold  Florida,"  stated  Colonel  Higginson,  com- 
manding the  expedition — "  and  perhaps  bring  it  back  into 
the  Union,"  he  added.^  The  invading  military  consisted  of 
two  regiments  of  negro  troops.'  Two  weeks  later  this 
force  was  reinforced  by  the  6th  Connecticut  and  8th 
Main«,* 

"  At  two  the  next  morning  we  steamed  up  the  river  " 
(St.  Johns),  writes  Higginson  of  this  expedition. 

Again  there  was  the  dreamy  delight  of  ascending  an  unknown 
stream  beneath  a  sinking  moon  into  a  region  where  peril  made 
fascination.  .  .  .  We  aimed  to  reach  Jacksonville  at  daybreak, 
.  .  .  but  we  had  several  hours  of  fresh  early  sunshine  lighting 
up  the  green  shores  of  that  lovely  river.  .  .  .  Here  and  there 
we  glided  by  the  ruins  of  some  saw-mill  burned  by  the  Confed- 
erates on  General  Wright's  approach ;  but  nothing  else  spoke  of 
war  except  perhaps  the  silence.  It  was  a  delicious  day  and  a 
scene  of  fascination.  Our  Florida  men  were  wild  with  delight, 
and  when  we  rounded  the  point  below  the  town  and  saw  from 
afar  its  long  streets,  its  brick  warehouses,  its  white  cottages,  and 
its  over-shadowing  trees — all  peaceful  and  undisturbed  by  flames 
— it  seemed  in  the  men's  phrase  "  too  much  good,"  and  all 
discipline  was  merged  for  a  moment  in  a  buzz  of  ecstasy.  .  .  . 
There  were  children  playing  on  the  wharves;  careless  men, 
here  and  there,  lounging  down  to  look  at  us,  hands  in  pockets ; 
a  few  women  came  to  their  doors  and  gazed  listlessly  upon  us, 
shading  their  eyes  with  their  hands." 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  14,  pp.  191,  195;  Civil  War  Papers,  v.  2, 
p.  468,  Higginson.    A^.  Y.  Times,  Mch.  22,  1862. 

'  Higginson,  Army  Life  in  a  Black  Regiment,  p.  134. 

'  The  1st  and  2nd  S.  C.  Colored  Infantry,  partly  recruited  in  Flor- 
ida, see  Civil  War  Papers,  v.  2;  Higginson,  Army  Life  in  a  Black 
Regiment. 

*  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  6,  pp.  482-5. 

"  Higginson,  Army  Life  in  a  Black  Regiment,  pp.  139-142. 


FEDERAL  INVASION  1 73 

The  country  adjacent  to  Jacksonville  was  raided  by  the 
negro  troops.  Private  dwellings  were  sacked  and  the  in- 
mates abused.  Sharp  skirmishes  were  fought  at  several 
points  with  Confederate  cavalry,  aroused  to  a  high  pitch  of 
desperation  at  the  raiding  of  the  blacks.^  But  as  neither 
plunder  nor  negroes  were  found  in  sufficient  quantity,  and 
as  Union  sentiment  was  practically  non-existent  outside  of 
Union  lines  and  deserters'  camps,  for  a  third  time  Federal 
troops  prepared  to  abandon  Jacksonville. 

March  31st.  A  "fine  south  wind  was  blowing,"  as  the 
first  troops  prepared  to  embark.^  Suddenly  flames  burst 
from  several  points  in  the  town,  and  immediately  the  hood- 
lums among  the  Federal  soldiers  began  sacking  private 
dwellings,  dilapidated  stores,  and  churches.  A  mob  of 
drunken  soldiers  burst  into  the  Catholic  church  which  was 
aflame  and  several  reeled  out  with  the  pipes  of  the  demol- 
ished organ.  Down  the  street  swept  the  mob,  some  good- 
naturedly  cursing,  some  hurrahing,  and  some  blowing 
through  the  organ  pipes.  By  the  end  of  the  second  day's 
looting  at  least  a  third  of  the  town  was  in  ashes.*  The 
guilt  for  beginning  this  vandalism — this  example  of  what 
Vattel  terms  "  savage  and  monstrous  excess "  * — rests 
mostly  with  the  soldiers  of  the  6th  Connecticut  and  8th 
Maine — white  troops,  and  not  with  the  negroes.  The  whites 
led  in  plundering.    "  When  evacuating  Jacksonville  in  East 

*  See  Mrs.  Dickison's  Dickison  and  His  Men,  passim.  Capt.  Dickison 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  guerilla  leaders  of  the  Civil  War. 
Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  14,  pp.  232,  238,  239,  860,  861.  N.  Y.  Times, 
Mch.  22,  1863. 

*  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  6,  p.  483. 

»  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  6,  p.  483 ;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  27,  1863,  con- 
taining an  excerpt  from  Lake  City  Columbian  with  inventory  of  prop- 
erty destroyed.  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  8,  1863;  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Apr.  8, 
1863;  N.  Y.  World,  Apr.  9,  1863. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  28,  pt.  2,  p.  12. 


174  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Florida  your  troops  set  on  fire  and  destroyed  the  larger  part 
of  that  town,  including  several  churches,"  wrote  Beaure- 
gard to  Gillmore,  "not  assuredly  to  cover  their  embarkation 
but  merely  as  a  measure  of  vindictive  and  illegitimate  hos- 
tility." ^  This  burning  was  probably  induced  by  a  desire  to 
"  pay  back  "  the  Confederate  sympathizers  for  the  burn- 
ings perpetrated  by  the  Confederate  irregular  cavalry  dur- 
ing the  previous  spring.    Union  men  had  suffered  then. 

The  Federal  force  quit  Jacksonville  on  the  2nd  of  April, 
while  a  part  of  the  town  was  still  blazing.  "  It  made  our 
sorrow  at  departure  no  less,"  wrote  Thomas  Wentworth 
Higginson,  colonel  of  the  First  South  Carolina  Blacks, 
"  though  it  infinitely  enhanced  the  impressiveness  of  the 
scene.  .  .  .  The  sight  and  roar  of  the  flames  and  the  rolling 
clouds  of  smoke,  brought  home  to  the  impressible  minds  of 
the  black  soldiers  all  their  favorite  imagery  of  the  Judgment 
Day."  *  As  the  ships  bearing  the  departing  military  passed 
out  of  the  St.  Johns,  they  were  rocked  in  a  heavy  north- 
easter which  brought  a  cloud  of  rain.  It  was  the  south 
wind  that  had  spread  the  flames  and  aided  the  would-be 
destroyers  of  Jacksonville,  and  a  rain-storm  from  the  North 
that  finally  extinguished  the  smoking  cinders  of  burned 
homes.  ^ 

1  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  28.  pt.  2,  p.  11. 
'  Life  in  a  Black  Regiment,  p.  175. 
»  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  8,  27.  1863. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
Economic  Adjustment  to  the  War 

,  Secession  did  not  produce  remarkable  change  in  the 
form  of  Southern  state  governments.  Transposition  from 
the  Federal  Union  to  the  new  Confederate  union  was  ac- 
complished simply,  directly,  adroitly,  not  only  without  great 
change  in  actual  constitutions,  but  also  without  much  ex- 
perimentation and  almost  without  blunders.  Carried  for- 
ward on  the  verge  of  war,  it  was  a  political  performance 
which  merits  critical  admiration — not  so  much  for  what 
was  done  as  for  what  was  not  done.  The  severing  of 
strong  political  bonds,  the  establishment  of  independent 
states,  and  the  organization  of  the  Confederacy  demon- 
strated well  the  native  political  sagacity  and  wise  conser- 
vatism of  the  American  politician  upholding  a  radical  cause. 
Probably  the  very  dangers  of  war  made  the  work  of  leaders 
easier  and  forced  them  to  be  careful.  There  was  oneness 
of  aim. 

The  record  of  state  and  Confederate  legislation  after 
war  became  an  accomplished  fact  fails  to  show  such  politi- 
cal wisdom  or  success.  The  American  publicist  is  pecu- 
liarly efficient  in  devising  and  becoming  content  with  a 
written  constitution,  probably  because  the  making  of  such 
documents  is  a  proud  tradition,  or  because  Americans  read- 
ily agree  that  a  certain  very  definite  type  of  government  is 
necessarily  the  best.  Accepted  sine  qua  nons  thus  make 
them  rapid  and  smooth  constitutional  organizers.  Now  in 
legislation  and  administration  the  American  is  less  apt  than 

175 


176  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

in  the  other  capacity.  War-time  legislation  in  the  South 
was  in  part  experimental.  Some  of  it  was  clearly  vision- 
ary, and  much  of  it  was  unsuccessful,  though  well  meant. 
Neither  was  there  oneness  of  aim  among  legislators,  jurists, 
and  administrators.  Florida  was  no  exception  to  the  rule. 
Law-making  there  played  its  part  in  the  economic  adjust- 
ment which  began  with  the  war. 

Early  in  1861  (Jan.-Feb.),  the  secession  convention  and 
the  legislature  by  ordinance  and  statute  provided  for  some 
of  the  exigencies  of  the  moment.  In  this  legislation  a  num- 
ber of  enactments  reflect  the  change  that  had  taken  place. 
Several  new  financial  and  industrial  institutions  were  in- 
corporated with  an  expanded  capitalization  for  Florida.^ 
A  system  of  state  circuit  courts  was  created  and  the  pend- 
ing cases  in  the  disestablished  Federal  courts  were  trans- 
ferred to  these  new  courts.^  All  processes  at  law  in  state 
courts  for  debts  were  arrested  until  the  first  Monday  of 
1862.'  Provision  was  made  for  the  representation  of  the 
state  in  the  Confederate  provisional  government.  Money 
was  issued  by  the  state.  Such  measures  logically  followed 
the  secession  of  Florida  from  the  Union,  and  though  re- 
sorted to  in  the  face  of  impending  war  they  were  not 
strictly  war  measures. 

^  Laws  of  Florida,  loth  session,  chap.  1 142,  Planters  and  Merchants 
Bank  of  Pensacola,  capital  up  to  $1,000,000.00;  chap.  1144,  Bank  of 
Apalachicola,  capital  up  to  $300,000.00;  chap.  1145,  Bank  of  Lake  City, 
capital  up  to  $500,000.00;  chap.  1146,  Bank  of  Tallahassee,  capital  up 
to  $500,000.00;  chap.  1 147,  Bank  of  Fernandina,  capital  up  to  $500,- 
000.00;  chap.  1 151,  Lake  City  and  Blount  Ferry  Railroad  Co..  capital 
$200,000.00;  chap.  1 150,  Alachua  County  R.  R.  Co.,  capital  $200,000.00; 
Western  R.  R.  Co.,  capital  $1,000,000.00. 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  loth  sess.,  chap.  1108;  12th  sess.,  chap.  1354. 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  loth  sess.,  chap.  1136,  providing  for  stay  in  execu- 
tion till  the  first  Monday  in  1862;  nth  sess.,  chap.  1271,  for  stay  in 
execution  till  12  months  after  peace;  chap.  1129,  and  nth  sess.,  chap. 
1284,  cancelling  debts  owed  to  alien  enemies. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  177 

As  the  war  progressed;  as  thousands  of  the  best  citi- 
zens marched  out  of  the  state  to  the  Confederate  armies 
on  the  firing  line ;  as  Federal  troops  invaded ;  as  the  cordon 
of  the  Federal  blockade  fleet  became  tighter;  as  the  food 
supply  of  Florida  diminished  perceptibly;  as  rich  sections 
were  laid  waste  by  raiders;  as  financial  confusion  in  Flor- 
ida and  the  entire  Confederacy  became  more  pronounced; 
as  securities  steadily  fell  in  value;  as  private  business  in- 
terests tried,  by  fair  means  and  foul,  to  adjust  themselves 
to  the  abnormal  conditions;  as  fast  disappearing  Confed- 
erate armies  fought  out  stubbornly  the  issue  which  was 
the  reason  for  the  Confederacy's  being — as  these  conditions 
developed  with  kaleidoscopic  rapidity,  the  state  legislature 
attempted  to  rise  to  the  occasion  with  arbitrary,  restrictive 
or  paternal  laws.  Such  legislation  was  a  response  to  the 
conditions  of  actual  war. 

One  of  the  immediate  tasks  which  confronted  the  people 
of  Florida  in  1861  was  the  quick  raising  of  money  to  sup- 
port the  government.  The  expansion  of  state  credit  at- 
tempted was  based  principally  on  state  lands.  These  lands 
were  either  pledged  for  the  redemption  of  notes  and  bonds 
or  were  purchasable  with  the  notes.  The  amount  of  land 
held  by  the  state  was  hugely  increased  on  secession  by  the 
appropriation  of  Federal  lands.^ 

The  two  forms  of  security  issued  by  the  government  in 
expanding  the  state's  credit  were  treasury  notes  and  8  per 
cent  twenty-year  bonds.    On  January  14th,  1861,  four  days 

^  Governor's  Message,  Nov.  21,  1864,  Milton  Papers.  1,300,000 
acres  of  public  land  were  pledged  for  the  redemption  of  Treasury- 
notes  issued  up  to  that  time.  Sp.  Rpt.  Register  Public  Lands,  Nov. 
22,  1862,  Sen.  Journal,  p.  100.  The  public  land  derived  on  seces- 
sion from  the  U.  S.  by  the  state  of  Florida  amounted  to  7,653,953 
acres.  By  ordinance  No.  49  of  the  convention  of  1861  the  valuation 
of  this  land  ranged  from  $1.00  to  10  cents  per  acre.  Later  laws 
changed  the  valuation  of  the  land. 


178  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

after  secession,  the  governor  was  authorized  by  law  to  issue 
$500,000  in  treasury  notes — to  be  used  as  money  and  to 
be  received  by  the  state  for  all  dues,  including  the  pur^- 
chase  price  of  public  land.  On  the  same  day  the  legislature 
authorized  the  issue  of  $500,000  in  bonds  as  described, 
pledging  the  honor  of  the  state  for  the  payment  of  the  in- 
terest/ The  bonds  did  not  have  a  ready  sale  and  the  state 
government  applied  to  the  banks  for  a  temporary  loan  as 
a  supplement  to  its  treasury  notes  in  order  to  meet  the  press- 
ing needs  of  the  moment.^ 

The  constitutional  convention  which  reassembled  in  the 
spring  of  1861  tried  to  improve  the  character  of  the  bonds 
and  at  the  same  time  it  debased  the  value  of  the  treasury 
notes.  It  authorized  the  governor  to  substitute  for  the 
bonds  already  authorized,  8  per  cent  twenty-year  coupon 
bonds  expressly  secured  by  the  income  from  the  sale  of 
public  land.  The  convention  instructed  the  register  of  lands 
to  receive  only  gold  or  silver  coin  for  public  land.  Thus 
the  acts  of  the  legislature  and  the  ordinances  of  the 
convention  were  in  conflict.  The  convention's  withhold- 
ing lands  from  the  purchaser  with  treasury  notes  lowered 
the  value  of  the  notes.'  The  following  year  (1862)  the  re- 
assembled convention  repealed  this  particular  ordinance, 
and  once  more  the  state  accepted  treasury  notes  for  its 
land.* 

The  government  was  aided  in  the  preliminary  financial 
operations  by  the  banks.  On  the  secession  of  Florida  from 
the  Union  in   1861   there  were  within  the  state  thirteen 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  loth  sess.,  Feb.  14,  1861. 

*  Schwab,  J.  C,  The  Confederate  States  of  America,  p.  306. 
'  Governor's  Message,  Nov.  21,  1862,  Milton  Papers. 

*■  Thomas,  David  Y.,  "  Florida  Finances  in  the  Civil  War,"  Yale  Re- 
view, Nov.,  1907,  p.  315.  Prof.  Thomas'  article  is  of  considerable 
value. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR 


179 


banking  houses.  Only  three  of  these — the  most  important 
— held  charters  from  the  state.  The  aggregate  capital  stock 
of  the  three  was  $350,000.^  The  other  ten  banks  were  de- 
nominated "  private  banks  ".  Little  is  known  of  their  con- 
dition or  operations.  Both  state  and  private  banks  sus- 
pended specie  payment  before  the  outbreak  of  war.  This 
step  was  taken  without  the  express  authority  of  law.  The 
legislature  at  its  December  session  in  1861  provided  by  sta- 
tute for  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  by  the  banks 
during  the  war.  The  avowed  object  of  the  law  was  to  "  re- 
lieve the  community  "  and  to  afford  "  a  safe,  adequate  and 
reliable  currency  ".^  For  a  year  following  secession  bank 
notes  constituted  a  considerable  part  of  the  state's  cur- 
rency. 

The  practical  working  of  these  state  financial  measures 
was  not  satisfactory.  The  bonds  could  not  be  readily  sold, 
which  left  treasury  notes  as  the  main  immediate  resource 
of  the  state. ^  To  sustain  the  value  of  these  notes  became 
a  matter  of  grave  importance.  With  them  principally  the 
state  must  pay  its  outstanding  debts,  meet  its  current  ex- 
penses, pay  its  soldiers  in  the  field,  support  its  poor  at  home, 
and  contribute  its  part  to  the  Confederate  direct  war  tax 
of  1 86 1.    To  declare  nonchalantly  that  notes  be  issued  and 

*  Report  of  Comptroller  to  House  on  condition  of  banks  in  Florida, 
House  Journal,  Jan.  21-26,  1861.  The  official  reports  of  the  three 
state  banks :  "  Bank  of  Florida ",  "  Bank  of  St.  Johns  ",  and  "  Bank 
of  Femandina",  all  indicate  a  sound  condition.    Thomas,  op.  cit. 

*  Lmws  of  Florida,  nth  sess.,  Dec.  14,  1861.  Schwab,  J.  C,  op.  cit., 
p.  130. 

*  State  taxes  remained  at  the  same  figure  during  the  war  that  they 
had  been  in  times  of  peace — one-sixth  of  one  per  cent,  yielding  in 
the  neighborhood  of  $140,000  a  year.  Expenditures  each  year  by  the 
state  were  more  than  $500,000.  The  state  tried  to  shift  the  burden  of 
extraordinary  expenses  to  the  future.  Taxes  were  paid  slowly.  In 
Dec,  i86r,  the  collection  of  taxes  for  1860-61  was  suspended.  Gov- 
ernor's Message,  Nov.  21,  1861,  Milton  Papers. 


l8o  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

to  print  them  proved  easy  as  long  as  the  paper  lasted;  but 
to  induce  people  to  use  them  at  their  face  value  proved  im- 
possible. 

The  legislature  tried  to  uphold  the  value  of  its  notes  by 
law.  It  provided  that  the  notes  of  solvent  banks  which  re- 
ceived treasury  notes  at  par  would  be  received  for  taxes, 
and  that  all  state  taxation  on  such  banks  would  be  sus- 
pended. Those  banks  which  did  not  receive  treasury  notes 
at  par  were  forbidden  to  issue  notes  smaller  than  $20. cx).^ 
Florida  paid  its  entire  direct  contribution  to  the  Confed- 
erate direct  war  tax  in  December,  1861,  with  treasury  notes 
—$225,374.11.' 

The  appearance  of  Confederate  treasury  notes  as  a  circu- 
lating medium  had  a  marked  effect  upon  state  finance. 
Confederate  notes  were  worth  less  than  state  notes — which 
were  secured  by  land — and  accordingly  Confederate  notes 
began  to  flow  into  the  state  treasury.  People  paid  their 
taxes  in  the  cheaper  money.'  The  legislature  tried  to  curb 
this  "  unpatriotic  discrimination "  against  Confederate 
notes  by  declaring  that  all  discrimination  against  these 
notes  was  "traitorous"  and  by  providing  that  no  one  should 
be  exempted  from  military  service  who  was  found  guilty 
of  such  practice.*     The  legislature's  efforts  were  of  little 

*  Thomas,  op.  cit. 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  nth  sess.,  Dec.  16,  1862.  Milton  to  Boston  (Con- 
fed.  Tax  Collector,  Savannah),  July  23,  1862;  Sparnish  (Chief  Clk.  Con- 
fed.  War  Dept.)  to  Memminger  (Sect.  Treas.),  July  18,  1862,  Milton 
Papers.  Final  payment  made  July  23rd.  This  amount  varies  from 
that  given  by  Prof.  Schwab  in  his  Confederate  States  ($226,109.88), 
p.  288. 

»  Governor's  Message,  Nov.  21,  1864,  Milton  Papers.  The  Governor 
stated  that  although  the  state  paid  out  "  a  large  amount "  of  notes, 
very  few  came  back  to  the  treasury  except  in  the  purchase  of  land. 
Almost  all  taxes  and  other  dues  were  paid  in  Confederate  currency. 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  Dec.  3,  1833. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  jgi 

avail.  The  progress  of  the  war  showed  a  steady  f alling-off  in 
the  value  of  Florida  securities,  augmented  by  the  continual 
issue  of  treasury  notes  and  sympathetic  decline  with  Con- 
federate currency  and  securities/  By  the  close  of  1862 
bank  notes  had  practically  disappeared  from  circulation.^ 
Each  session  of  the  legislature  from  1861  to  1865  wit- 
nessed a  heavy  authorization  of  treasury  notes. 

The  amount  of  treasury  notes  authorized  by  the  legisla- 
ture of  Florida  while  that  state  was  out  of  the  Union  was 
$2,450,000;  of  bonds  $500,000.'  It  is  impossible  to-day 
to  compute  with  accuracy  how  much  of  this  authorized 
amount  was  actually  issued.  More  than  $2,239,640  were 
put  in  circulation.*  On  the  collapse  of  the  Confederacy 
in  1865,  $1,800,000  notes  were  outstanding  in  circulation 
and  $300,000  bonds  had  been  sold.  This  was  the  war  debt 
of  the  state  in  1865.° 

*  Governor's  Message,  Nov.  21,  1864,  Milton  Papers,  For  discussion 
of  entire  South  see  Schwab,  The  Confederate  States,  passim. 

*  Thomas,  op.  cit. 

'Laws  of  Florida,  loth  sess.  (Feb.  14  1861),  chap.  1097:  $500,000 
in  treasury  notes  issued  in  denominations  of  1-2-3-4-5- 10-20-50-  and  100 
dollars.  The  notes  were  legal  tender  for  taxes,  fines,  debts,  public 
lands,  etc.  They  were  beautifully  engraved  on  a  good  quality  of 
paper.  The  work  was  probably  done  beyond  the  state,  nth  sess. 
(Dec,  1861),  chap.  1297,  $500,000  for  payment  of  war  tax  to  Confed- 
erate government  (see  Governor's  Message,  Nov.,  1862),  12th  sess. 
(Dec,  1862),  chap.  1372,  $300,000  in  same  denominations  as  first  issue. 
I2th  sess.  (Dec  6,  1862),  chap.  1337,  $200,000  expressly  for  relief  of 
soldiers'  families.  12th  sess.,  chap.  1420,  $300,000  expressly  for  relief 
of  soldiers'  families.  13th  sess.  (Dec,  1864),  $300,000  issued  expressly 
for  soldiers'  families.  13th  sess.  (Dec.  7,  1864),  chap.  1463,  $350,000, 
public  lands  expressly  pledged  for  the  redemption  of  this  issue.  Bonds 
Law  of  Feb.,  1861,  chap.  1141 — 20-year  8  per  cent  interest  payable  semi- 
annually. 

*  Thomas,  op.  cit. 

^Governor's  Message,  Nov.  21,  1862;  Milton  to  Boston  (collector), 
July  23,  1862;  Sparnish  to  Memminger,  July  18,  1862;  Memrainger  to 


1 82  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  extraordinary  confusion  accompanying  secession 
and  war  produced  a  scarcity  of  currency,  particularly  frac- 
tional currency — coins  and  small  bills.  Railroads  and  other 
corporations  began  to  issue  their  notes  for  small  amounts 
early  in  1861.  Employees  were  paid  in  this  "railroad 
money  "  or  "  change  bills  "  which  for  a  time  passed  as  cur- 
rency at  a  discount.  In  order  to  furnish  much-needed  small 
change,  towns  began  to  issue  by  the  second  year  of  war 
fractional  paper  currency  in  small  amounts,  termed  "  shin 
plasters  ".^  Pensacola  was  empowered  by  law  in  December, 
1861,  to  issue  $25,000  in  small  bills,  which  when  issued 
passed  as  currency  and  for  the  redemption  of  which  the 
faith  and  resources  of  the  city  were  pledged.^ 

To  recapitulate  the  war-time  currency  situation  in  Flor- 
ida: secession  and  war  produced  really  four  new  sorts  of 
currency,  namely,  state  treasury  notes.  Confederate  treas- 
ury notes,  corporation  notes,  and  fractional  paper  notes  of 
municipalities.  Bank  notes  circulating  before  1861  consti- 
tuted another  form  of  money.  Specie  was  very  scarce. 
The  legislature  attempted  to  force  up  the  value  of  state 
notes  by  penalizing  banks  discriminating  against  them;  to 
force  up  the  value  of  Confederate  notes  by  penalizing  indi- 
viduals who  discriminated  against  them;  and  in  December, 
1861,  by  a  drastic  law  to  force  out  of  circulation  corpora- 
tion currency  bills  of  denominations  less  than  $5.^     Be- 

Milton,  Apr.  17,  1862,  Milton  Papers.  State  Treas.  and  Comptr.'s  Rpts. 
for  1862  and  1864,  N.  Y.  World,  Nov.  17,  1865.  Report  of  Finance 
Committee  in  the  state  convention.  This  body  reported  the  outstand- 
ing bonds  to  be  $300,000,  in  addition  to  which  $70,000  in  bonds  of 
an  issue  prior  to  the  war  was  outstanding;  see  Treas.  and  Comptr.'s 
Rpt.,  1864. 

^  Thomas,  op.  cit. 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  nth  sess.,  Dec.  17,  :86i.  Schwab,  op.  cit.,  pp.  154- 
155. 

'Laws  of  Florida,  loth  sess.,  Feb.  14,  1861 ;  nth  sess.,  Dec.  13,  1861. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  183 

fore  the  end  of  the  war  state  and  Confederate  treasury 
notes  were  practically  the  only  circulating  media — both 
at  an  enormous  discount  under  gold. 

The  decline  in  the  value  of  state  securities  encouraged 
some  people  to  speculate  heavily  in  public  lands.  With 
depreciated  currency  they  purchased  at  the  monetary  rate 
fixed  by  law  and  then  sold  or  hypothecated  at  a  higher  fig- 
ure.^ This  was  by  no  means  the  only  form  of  speculation 
flagrant  during  the  war.  The  drain  of  supplies  from  the 
state  for  the  Confederate  army,  the  interruption  in  planting 
due  to  the  war,  and  the  success  of  the  Federal  blockade  pro- 
duced a  steady  decrease  in  the  necessities  of  life,  and  this 
increasing  scarcity  made  it  more  easy  than  it  would  have 
been  otherwise  for  speculators  to  realize  big  profits.^ 

The  legislature  and  the  governor  tried  to  combat  specu- 
lation. They  believed  its  ramifications  touched  evilly  agri- 
culture at  home  and  commerce  abroad,  and  before  the  war 
was  half  over  they  declared  that  it  made  difficult  the  pur- 
chase or  impressment  of  supplies  for  the  army ;  and  that  it 
sometimes  prevented  absolutely  the  purchase  of  supplies 
for  the  support  of  soldiers'  families  within  the  state. 

In  November,  1861,  a  law  was  enacted  that  forbade  the 
export  from  the  state  of  any  beef  cattle,  dried  or  pickled 
beef,  hogs,  pork,  bacon,  corn,  corn-meal,  salt,  or  provisions 
of  any  kind.  The  legal  maximum  price  for  all  articles  and 
commodities  was  fixed  at  33  per  cent  over  cost  and  charges. 
Speculation  was  declared  unlawful  beyond  the  33  per  cent 

*  Governor's  Message,  Nov.  21,  1864,  Milton  Papers.  Laws  of  Flor- 
ida, I2th  sess.,  Dec,  1862,  chap.  1367. 

*  Milton  to  Seddon,  Jan.  11,  1864,  for  instance,  Milton  Papers.  Many 
references  to  speculation  in  sources  of  this  period.  Milton  spoke  of 
the  "widespread  desire  for  speculation.  .  .  .  Notwithstanding  alleged 
depreciation  of  currency  people  of  all  ages  and  conditions  seem  wild 
in  its  accumulation." 


1 84  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

mark.  The  governor  was  authorized  to  appropriate  pro- 
visions and  supplies  for  the  state  at  a  just  price,  when  he 
should  consider  it  necessary.  A  $1,000  fine  was  fixed  for 
those  found  guilty  of  violating  the  act.  For  conviction  of 
having  conspired  to  form  a  monopoly  of  any  commodity 
the  punishment  was  to  be  $1,000  fine  and  one  year's  im- 
prisonment. The  judges  of  the  circuit  courts  were  directed 
to  charge  the  grand  jurors  to  take  into  consideration  such 
offenses.^ 

The  convention  of  1862  repealed  the  act  of  the  legis- 
lature attempting  to  restrain  monopoly.  "  Immediately  the 
flood-gates  of  villainy  were  opened,"  wrote  Governor 
Milton.  The  legislature  again  stepped  into  the  breach.  A 
law  of  December,  1862,  declared  that 

if  any  person  shall  purchase  any  article  of  clothing,  shoes, 
leather,  cloth,  provisions,  wheat,  flour,  meat,  salt,  bagging, 
rope,  etc.,  and  shall  falsely  represent  that  he  is  purchasing 
such  for  the  soldiers  of  the  government,  he  shall  be  guilty  of 
a  felony  and,  upon  conviction,  shall  be  punished  by  imprison- 
ment for  not  less  than  one  or  more  than  three  years ;  that  all 
persons  who  shall  monopolize  any  of  the  above  articles  with 
intent  to  produce  a  scarcity  in  the  market  or  of  raising  the 
price  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and,  upon  conviction, 
shall  be  fined  not  less  than  $500  or  more  than  $5,000;  that 
if  any  of  the  above  things  be  done  by  a  corporation,  then 
the  president  and  directors  of  the  corporation  shall  be  liable 
to  be  severally  indicted  and  punished. 

Circuit  judges  were  again  directed  to  call  the  attention  of 
grand  juries  to  this  act.^  Legislation  such  as  this  was  ob- 
viously difficult  to  enforce.    Unlawful  speculation  and  dis- 

^  Laws  of  Florida,  nth  sess.,  Nov.  and  Dec,  1861,  chapts.  1258  and 
1283. 
'  Laws  of  Florida,  12th  sess.,  Dec.  10,  1862. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  185 

honest  practice  in  trade  continued  to  be  prevalent  because 
it  yielded  a  round  profit.  Statutes  cannot  change  human 
nature,  and  at  that  time  they  could  neither  raise  the  block- 
ade nor  stop  the  war. 

During  the  four  years  of  war  the  expenditures  of  the 
Florida  government  increased  enormously.  The  budget 
of  i860  was  less  than  $150,000.  The  yearly  budgets 
while  Florida  was  out  of  the  Union  averaged  more  than 
$500,000.  The  principal  objects  of  this  extraordinary  or 
war-time  expenditure  were:  ist,  supplies  for  state  troops; 
2nd,  the  payment  of  Florida's  quota  to  the  Confederate  di- 
rect tax  of  1861 ;  3rd,  supplies  for  soldiers'  families  and 
indigent  within  the  state ;  4th,  the  maintenance  of  hospitals 
at  home  and  abroad  for  Florida  troops. 

To  meet  this  increased  expense  the  state  government 
did  not  raise  its  tax  rate,  but  issued  treasury  notes.  It 
tried  to  shift  to  the  future  the  burden  of  the  present. '^ 
The  property  tax  rate  of  the  state  remained  the  same  for 
the  war — one-sixth  of  one  per  cent — and  yielded  less  than 
in  time  of  peace,  because,  ist,  people  were  slower  in  paying 
their  taxes  than  in  times  of  peace;  2nd,  the  state  legisla- 
ture in  December,  1861,  suspended  until  the  following  year 
the  payment  of  taxes  for  1860-61.^  However,  many  of 
the  county  and  town  rates  throughout  the  state  increased. 
Communities  more  than  ever  found  themselves  forced  to 
help  the  poverty-stricken  and  indigent  at  home;  and  their 
soldiers  in  distant  armies  needed  aid. 

But  the  people  of  Florida  felt  in  another  way  the  new 
burden  which  the  war  created.  The  Confederacy's  finan- 
cial system  soon  directly  touched  the  wealth  of  the  Con- 
federacy's citizens.     Taxation  by  the  central  government 

1  This  was   the  policy  of  government  throughout  the   South.     See 
Schwab,  op.  cit.,  pp.  285-90,  and  elsewhere. 
^  Laws  of  Florida,  nth  sess.,  Dec.  13,  1861. 


1 86  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

rested  fundamentally  upon  three  statutes:  namely,  ist,  the 
Direct  Tax  Act  of  1861 ;  2nd,  the  Impressment  Act  of 
March  26th,  1863 ;  3rd,  the  General  Tax  Act  of  April  24th, 
1863. 

The  first  measure,  amounting  to  a  tax  of  one-half  of 
one  per  cent  upon  all  real  and  personal  property  within  the 
various  states,  was  shifted  in  Florida  from  the  individual 
to  the  state  government  by  an  issue  of  state  treasury  notes. 

The  second  measure,  the  Impressment  Act,  was  not 
technically  a  tax  law,  but  in  reality  its  character  was  then 
and  is  now  patent.  It  proved  a  very  effective  and  heavy 
form  of  taxation.  Under  it  Confederate  agents  were  au- 
thorized to  impress  food  products  and  other  forms  of 
property  useful  to  the  army  at  prices  arbitrarily  fixed  by 
"  boards  "  created  by  the  Confederate  war  department  and 
the  state  governors.  These  boards  published  from  time 
to  time  in  the  newspapers  schedules  of  maximum  prices 
which  an  impressing  agent  might  pay.  The  scheduled 
prices  were  considerably  less  than  the  maiket  prices.  Com- 
missary impressing  agents  used  large  discretion  in  apply- 
ing the  law  in  Florida.  Their  orders  came  from  their 
state  chief,  and  this  chief  tried  to  get  out  of  the  country 
what  was  necessary — which  meant,  toward  the  end  of  the 
war,  all  that  he  could.  Corn,  beef,  pork,  rice,  potatoes, 
peas,  molasses,  sugar,  forage,  etc.,  were  "  impressed ", 
paid  for  in  Confederate  notes,  and  either  sent  at  once  from 
the  state  or  collected  in  "  commissary  warehouse  depots  " 
at  various  points  in  the  state — Milton,  Marianna,  Quincy, 
Tallahassee,  Monticello,  Baldwin,  Starke,  Gainesville, 
Tampa.  How  much  was  "  impressed  "  in  Florida  during 
the  war?  This  leading  question  cannot  be  answered  satis- 
factorily through  lack  of  recorded  evidence. 

The  third  Confederate  tax  to  be  noted — that  levied 
by    the    law    of    April    24th,    1863 — was    comprehensive 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  187 

in  its  scope.  It  authorized  a  yearly  levy  of  eight 
per  cent  on  the  value  of  all  naval  stores,  salt,  wines, 
liquors,  tobacco,  cotton,  wool,  sugar,  molasses,  syrup 
or  other  agricultural  products  produced  within  the 
state,  and  on  money  in  hand;  a  license  tax  of  from  $50 
to  $500  on  various  occupations,  trades  and  professions — 
butchers,  bakers,  bankers,  innkeepers,  lawyers,  doctors,  etc.; 
an  income  tax  of  one  per  cent  to  fifteen  per  cent  on  all  in- 
comes; a  sales  tax  of  ten  per  cent  on  all  profits  from  the 
sale  of  provisions,  iron,  shoes,  blankets,  and  cotton  cloth; 
and  last  but  not  least  a  tax  in  kind  of  one-tenth  of  all  agri- 
cultural products.  This  last  tax  was  known  as  the  "  Con- 
federate Tithe  ".  It  yielded  the  Confederacy  an  immense 
amount  of  foodstuffs  and  cotton.^ 

The  collection  of  Confederate  taxes  was  entrusted  to 
state  tax  collectors.  Confederate  commissary  agents,  and 
special  impressing  agents.  The  "  Tithe "  in  cotton  and 
tobacco  was  turned  over  to  the  Confederate  treasury  de- 
partment. The  foodstuffs  were  collected  in  commissary 
depots  for  the  army — where  were  stored  also  the  "  im- 
pressed "  supplies. 

How  much  did  Florida  contribute  in  direct  taxes  to  the 
Confederacy?  Here  too  any  answer  must  be  unsatisfac- 
torily vague.  Up  to  April  ist,  1864,  the  approximate  yield 
in  Florida  of  the  tax  law  of  April  24th,  1863,  was  $1,000,- 
000  in  Confederate  currency.  This  did  not  include  the 
"  Tithe  "."  Both  the  "  Tithe  "  and  the  Confederate  Im- 
pressment Act  were  pretty  stringently  enforced  in  Florida. 

*  Schwab,  J.  C,  op.  cit.,  pp.  297-8.  "  The  amount  of  produce  col- 
lected by  the  tax  in  kind  cannot  be  determined,"  says  Prof.  Schwab. 
N.  C,  Ga.,  and  Ala.  were  the  largest  contributors.  Considerably  more 
than  $12,000,000  worth  of  produce  (estimated  in  gold  at  normal  prices) 
was  collected. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  293. 


1 88  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

If  the  tithe  law  was  thoroughly  enforced  and  the  produc- 
tivity of  the  state  did  not  decrease,  the  yield  to  the  Con- 
federate tax  gatherers  in  Florida  should  have  been  agri- 
cultural produce  valued  at  more  than  $1,000,000  in  gold 
in  normal  times — about  300,000  bushels  of  corn  annually, 
35,000  bushels  of  peas,  120,000  bushels  of  potatoes,  40,000 
gallons  of  molasses,  5,000  bales  of  cotton  and  one-tenth  of 
the  annual  increase  from  275,000  hogs,  400,000  head  of 
cattle,  30,000  sheep,  and  25,000  horses  and  mules/  But 
we  know  that  agriculture  changed  greatly  in  character  after 
1862  and  steadily  decreased  in  productiveness,  and  we  know 
that  the  tithe  was  not  perfectly  enforced  and  that  incom- 
plete records  were  kept  of  what  was  taken  by  the  Confed- 
erate Government.  Invading  armies  destroyed  crops  and 
private  storehouses.  Unpatriotic  persons  in  the  South 
dodged  taxes  when  possible.  These  facts  materially  amend 
any  a  priori  estimate  based  upon  what  the  state  ought  to 
have  yielded  according  to  the  census  of  i860. 

A  considerable  part  of  the  state  government's  resources 
was  expended  for  the  care  of  soldiers'  families  that  were  in 
need  of  aid.  The  pathetic  poverty  of  the  poor  white  soon 
became  painfully  evident.  The  justices  of  the  peace  were 
required  by  law  in  1862  to  make  lists  of  the  families  of 
Confederate  soldiers  and  to  forward  these  lists  to  the 
judges  of  probate,  who  in  turn  forwarded  them  to  the 
comptroller  of  the  state.  The  governor  directed  expendi- 
ture for  the  needy  through  either  the  boards  of  county 
commissioners  or  the  judges  of  probate.^  The  money  went 
for  clothing,  food,  salt,  wool-cards,  spinning  wheels  and 
other  necessities.  In  1862  the  legislature  put  $20,000  in 
the  hands  of  the  governor  to  be  expended  for  wool-cards 

^  See  U.  S.  Census,  i860,  passim. 

^  Laws  of  Florida,  12th  sess.,  1862,  chap.  1337. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  189 

alone/  During  1862-63-64,  $1,200,000  were  appropriated 
in  treasury  notes  by  the  legislature  for  soldiers'  families.^ 
Only  a  fraction  of  this  amount  was  actually  expended. 

During  1862-1863,  Florida's  soldiers'  families  receiv- 
ing state  aid  numbered  3,431 — composed  of  11,744  per- 
sons. Only  $186,639  were  expended  for  this  purpose  by 
the  state  during  this  year.  During  1863-64  there  were 
3,633  families  receiving  aid,  numbering  13,248  persons. 
$291,443  were  expended.'  Florida  had  sent  12,000  or 
13,000  soldiers  to  the  war.  From  these  figures  it  is  seen 
that  the  state  government  was  contributing  to  the  support 
of  approximately  one  non-combatant  for  every  soldier  in 
the  field. 

1863-64  witnessed  a  great  increase  in  destitution  over 
the  record  of  the  preceding  year.  But  for  the  fact  that  the 
eastern  portion  of  the  state  was  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy 
the  amount  expended  would  have  been  much  larger.  In 
practically  every  county  receiving  aid  the  increase  was  from 
75  per  cent  to  200  per  cent  in  currency.  Depreciation  had 
much  to  do,  however,  with  this  increase  in  the  number  of 
dollars  expended.  In  Alachua  county,  for  instance,  $8,000 
were  expended  in  1862-63;  and  $17,000  in  1863-64;  in 
Jackson  county,  $9,000  in  1862-63,  and  $22,000  in  1863-64; 
in  Leon  county,  $6,000  in  1862-63,  and  $12,000  in  1863-64; 
in  Gadsden  county,  $7,000  in  1862-63,  and  $21,000  in  1863- 
1864.* 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  12th  sess.,  Dec.  8,  1862,  resolution  No.  6,  Quarter- 
Master  General's  (state)  Rpt,  Oct.  3,  1864.  During  this  year  (1864) 
2,500  wool-cards  were  distributed  over  the  state  by  the  government  to 
aid  the  poor  in  spinning  and  weaving. 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  chapts.  1337,  1420,  1461. 

'  Florida  Senate  Journal,  1864,  pp.  31,  etc.  It  is  not  clear  as  to  what 
currency  this  estimate  of  expenditure  is  computed  in. 

*  Florida  Senate  Journal,  1864,  pp.  31,  etc. 


IC^o  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  enforcement  of  the  Confederate  Impressment  Act 
and  the  collection  of  the  Confederate  "Tithe"  developed  ras- 
cality, and  was  accompanied  by  friction  between  local  and 
Confederate  officials,  and  by  more  serious  conflict  between 
civil  authority  and  military  authority.  The  civil  proved 
unable  to  have  its  will  generally  when  in  conflict  with  the 
military/ 

Merchants  traveled  through  Florida  dishonestly  claim- 
ing to  be  Confederate  commissary  agents  with  authority  to 
"  impress  "  supplies  or  to  collect  the  "  Tithe  ".  This  was 
plain  rascality  and  is  mentioned  here  because  for  a  time  it 
was  prevalent  in  parts  of  the  state. 

Commodities  were  seized  on  their  way  to  market.  The 
Florida  legislature  tried  to  remedy  the  situation  by  a  law 
f 01  bidding  the  impressment  of  goods  en  route,  and  pro- 
viding for  a  speedy  method  of  redress  before  state  courts 
when  property  had  been  thus  seized.^ 

County  commissioners  and  judges  of  probate  who  were 
directed  to  purchase  food  for  the  destitute  in  their  locali- 

^  Milton  to  Seddon,  January  1 1,  1864.  The  county  commis- 
sioners had  no  authority  to  impress  supplies,  as  did  the  Confed- 
erate agents.  Florida  was  divided  into  five  commissary  districts. 
In  each  district  were  several  agents  accountable  to  the  commis- 
sary in  chief   for  the  state.     The  legal   form  served  on  those   from 

whom    supplies    were    desired    was    as    follows :    "  Sir :     The   

heads  of  beeves  [or  pounds  of  bacon,  etc.]  which  you  have  on 
hand   is   needed    for   use   in   the   armies   of   the    Confederate    States. 

For   this    purpose    I    will   pay   you   at   the    rate   of schedule 

price  per  .  If  this  price  is  not  satisfactory  to  you,  compen- 
sation will  be  made  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress  passed  for 
the  regulation  of  impressment,  etc."  See  Milton  Papers,  Nov.,  1863. 
Laws  of  Florida  required  the  Confederate  commissary  for  the  state 
to  notify  the  governor  of  all  appointments  of  sub-agents,  and  the  gov- 
ernor was  directed  to  publish  the  names  of  such  agents.  It  proved 
hard  to  comply  with  this  law.  See  White  to  Milton,  Dec.  9,  1863; 
Beauregard  to  Milton,  Nov.  30,  1862,  Milton  Papers. 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  12th  sess.,  chapts.  1414,  1415. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  191 

ties  came  into  conflict  with  Confederate  commissary  agents 
collecting  the  "  Tithe  ",  with  impressment  agents  buying 
at  an  arbitrary  figure,  and  with  merchants  trading  for  a 
profit/  People  suffered  for  want  of  food  in  1864-65.  There 
was  usually  enough  corn,  peas,  meat,  salt,  and  molasses 
to  supply  the  immediate  needs  of  the  inhabitants,  but 
the  necessary  surplus  was  held  by  Confederate  agents.  By 
the  spring  of  1864  the  scarcity  of  food  in  some  localities 
had  become  acute.  Major  C.  C.  Yonge,  chief  Confederate 
quartermaster  for  the  state,  ordered  on.  March  30th,  1864, 
that  where  "  tithing  corn  "  was  needed  for  the  indigent 
families,  it  could  be  purchased  from  the  Confederate  com- 
missary. This  wise  measure  relieved  temporarily  the  want 
that  was  driving  some  families  perilously  near  starvation.'^ 
Governor  Milton  was  hostile  to  the  practice  of  impress- 
ment. He  informed  the  legislature  in  the  autumn  of  1863 
that  "  the  press  of  this  and  other  states,  for  the  protection 
of  creditors  and  worthy  citizens,  have  made  known  the 
most  shameless  frauds  practiced  by  impostors  claiming  to 
be  officers  or  agents  in  Confederate  service."  As  for  the 
rulings  of  regular  agents,  he  declared  them  to  be  "  incom- 
patible with  the  rights  of  citizens  and  insulting  to  freemen 
who  know  their  rights  and  have  proven  their  loyalty  to  the 
government.     Why   should  any   citizen,"   he  added,   "  be 

^  The  efforts  of  the  Confederate  commissary  to  obtain  control  of 
Wm.  Bailey's  cloth  mill  at  Monticello  furnishes  a  good  example  of 
competition  between  state  and  Confederacy.  The  mill  was  producing 
for  the  state  government.  The  Confederate  government  withdrew 
finally  in  favor  of  the  state.  See  Milton  to  Cunningham,  Jan.  13,  1864, 
Milton  to  Seddon,  Jan.  17,  1864;  Seddon  to  Milton,  July  30,  1864; 
Beauregard  to  Milton,  Nov.  30,  1863,  Milton  Papers.  Gov.  Milton 
often  encouraged  and  aided  Confederate  officials  in  obtaining  sup- 
plies— see  Milton  to  White  (Chief  Commissioner),  Dec.  12,  1863, 
Milton  Papers. 

'  Yonge  to  Milton,  Mch.  30.  1864;  Milton  to  Seddon,  Jan.  11,  1864, 
Milton  Papers. 


1 92  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

clothed  with  military  authority  which  would  enable  him  to 
intrude  himself  into  the  sacred  precincts  of  the  family  circle 
and  when  reproved  or  repulsed  for  this  intrusion,  then  with 
an  armed  force  at  his  back  to  return  and  make  unlawful 
searches  and  seizures  ?  "  ^ 

But  the  Confederate  government  did  not  recede  from  its 
position  on  impressment.  Supplies  were  absolutely  essen- 
tial for  the  continuation  of  the  war,  and  this  system  put  the 
government  into  possession  of  supplies.  One  of  the  last 
acts  of  Congress  (March,  1865)  was  the  enactment  of  a 
more  stringent  impressment  law,  including  milch  cows, 
breeding  hogs,  and  other  stock  vitally  necessary  for  the 
very  life  of  the  farm.^  "  If  we  have  arrived  at  that  point 
where  it  has  become  actually  necessary  to  impress  all  the 
cows  in  the  country,"  stated  Judge  Wall  of  Hernando 
County  to  Governor  Milton  ere  the  foregoing  law  was  en- 
acted, "  then  I  say  God  help  us,  for  starvation  must  be  in- 
evitable ".' 

A  prominent  case  in  Florida  of  conflict  between  private 
owner  and  Confederate  impressment  agent  originated  in 
the  efforts  of  the  Confederate  commissary  to  obtain  control 
of  50,000  pounds  of  sugar  from  ex-Senator  Yulee's  plan- 
tation. The  sugar  was  seized  while  en  route  to  Savannah, 
Georgia,  where  the  government  of  that  city  had  made  a  ten- 
tative agreement  to  purchase  it  at  $1   per  pound.*     The 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  iv,  v.  2,  pp.  372-6.  Milton  to  the  legislature, 
Nov.  23,  1863. 

'  Ibid.,  V.  3,  pp.  1170-72.         ^Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  iv,  v.  3,  pp.  47-48. 

*  Yulee  vs.  Conova,  Fla.  Rpts.,  v.  xi,  pp.  n-13.  Conova  was  a  major 
in  the  Confed.  Commissary  Dept.  in  Florida.  By  his  orders  the  sugar 
was  seized.  Yulee  disclaimed  ownership  and  held  therefore  that  he 
could  not  negotiate  with  the  government.  Conova  had  difficulty  in 
fixing  on  the  owner.  He  declared,  "  It  matters  not  to  whom  the  sugar 
belongs;  it  is  necessary  for  the  subsistence  of  the  armies  of  the  Con- 
federate states  in  the  field  and  it  is  my  duty  to  obtain  it,"  p.  15. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR 


193 


impressment  agent  held  the  sugar  and  offered  the  owner  45 
cents  per  pound.  The  offer  was  refused.  The  state  im- 
pressment commissioners,  in  accordance  with  the  Confed- 
erate law,  fixed  the  compensation  at  75  cents  per  pound. 
This  was  refused,  and  suit  for  damages  was  brought  by 
the  agent  for  the  city  of  Savannah  in  the  state  circuit  court 
of  Florida.  The  Confederate  agents  held  the  sugar  under 
military  guard. ^  The  damage  suit  was  thrown  out  of  court, 
but  in  equity  proceedings  the  court  awarded  the  owners  of 
the  sugar  $54,204.19  damages.^  The  case  was  appealed  to 
the  state  supreme  court.  That  tribunal  fixed  a  rule  for 
estimating  a  "  just  compensation  "  for  the  sugar,  reversed 
the  decision  of  the  lower  court,  and  directed  it  to  increase 
the  amount  to  be  paid  by  the  Confederate  government.^ 
In  this  case  state  courts  assumed  and  exercised  very  defi- 
nitely the  right  of  fixing  the  price  under  the  Confederate 
Impressment  Act. 

The  most  serious  conflict  over  impressment  was  that 
arising  from  the  seizure  of  property  belonging  to  the  Flor- 
ida Railroad.  In  the  spring  of  1864  the  Confederate  war 
department  determined  to  complete  railway  connections  be- 
tween Central  Florida  and  the  Chattahoochee  river.  To 
accomplish  this  purpose  railroad  iron,  spikes,  and  bolts  were 
"  impressed  "  in  East  Florida.*  Such  material  was  then 
very  scarce  in  the  South.  Track  was  torn  up  in  order  to 
extend  the  railway  west. 

Lieutenant  Fairbanks,  of  the  Confederate  engineering 
bureau,  was  entrusted  with  this  work.     He  acted  under 

1  Yulee  vs.  Conova,  Fla.  Rpts.,  v.  xi,  p.  17. 
'  Ibid.,  pp.  40-41. 
'  Ibid.,  pp.  61-62. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  53,  pp.  350-63,  Executive  Correspondencci 
1864. 


194  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

formal  permit  from  the  major-general  commanding  the  dis- 
trict. The  permit  called  upon  all  officers  to  aid  Fairbanks 
because  "the  work  he  is  engaged  in  is  a  military  necessity."  ^ 

The  railroad  owners  and  their  friends,  led  by  ex-Senator 
Yulee,  filed  a  bill  in  the  court  of  Alachua  County  against 
Lieutenant  Fairbanks,  Major  Minor  Merriweather  (of 
the  Confederate  engineering  bureau — Fairbanks's  chief), 
James  A.  Seddon,  Confederate  secretary  of  war,  J.  H. 
Bums,  and  S.  P.  Mallory,  Confederate  secretary  of  the 
navy.  In  response  to  the  petition  the  court  awarded  an  in- 
junction against  the  defendants  restraining  them  or  their 
agents  from  removing  the  iron.^ 

The  writ  of  injunction  was  served  on  Lieutenant  Fair- 
banks, April  27th.  He  disregarded  it  and  continued  to 
remove  the  iron.  He  so  acted  after  consultation  with  his 
chief.  Major  Merriweather  of  the  engineering  bureau. 
General  Anderson  furnished  Lieutenant  Fairbanks  and) 
workers  a  military  guard  and  impressed  a  locomotive  and 
cars  for  hauling  the  iron.'  Some  two  or  three  miles  of 
track  were  removed,  when  on  May  28th  the  lieutenant 
was  summoned  to  answer  for  contempt  of  court.  He  again 
disregarded  the  court's  order,  refused  to  seek  the  advice 
of  counsel,  and  continued  to  tear  up  track.* 

The  case  was  beginning  to  excite  bitter  feeling,  locally, 
and  general  popular  dissatisfaction.  The  asseveration  was 
spread  abroad  that  the  interests  of  East  Florida  were  being 
sacrificed  in  order  that  another  section  might  prosper,  and 
that  the  military  was  acting  without  authority  from  Rich- 
mond.    All  attorneys  in  the  Eastern  portion  of  the  state 

'^Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  53,  p.  359. 
2  Ibid.,  pp.  353-4- 

•  Ihid.,  p.  362. 

*  Ihid.,  p.  353. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  195 

were  engaged  by  the  railroad  in  order  to  embarrass  the  gov- 
ernment. Popular  sympathy  seemed  to  be  with  the  railroad 
in  its  conflict  with  the  Confederate  military.  General  An- 
derson, commanding  the  district,  said :  "  I  do  not  believe 
the  people  could  be  induced  to  take  sides  with  any  party, 
class  or  corporation  who  openly  refused  to  acquiesce  in  any 
demand  which  the  government  might  make  upon  them. 
But  in  this  case  they  are  made  to  believe  that  it  is  not  the 
government  but  interested  officers  who  are  seeking  to  obtain 
iron,  as  they  say,  by  despoiling  a  weak  state  of  her  resources 
to  enrich  other  more  prosperous  communities."  ^ 

The  Alachua  county  court  directed  the  sheriff  to  arrest 
Lieutenant  Fairbanks  for  contempt.  The  sheriff  and 
posse  attempted  to  arrest  him,  but  the  lieutenant  resisted, 
reading  aloud  his  instructions  from  his  military  superior 
and  calling  upon  his  provost  guard  for  protection.  With 
fixed  bayonets  the  soldiers  ranged  themselves  between  the 
Confederate  military  official  and  the  state's  posse.  Where- 
upon the  sheriff  and  his  men  withdrew.^  This  occurred  on 
June  8th.  It  seemed  clearly  and  only  a  case  of  conflict  be- 
tween the  Confederate  military,  private  citizens  and  county 
civil  officials.  It  soon  proved  more  complicated.  On  Jtme 
14th  the  Confederate  States'  attorney  at  Tallahassee,  James 
Banks,  notified  Governor  Milton  that  as  Confederate 
States'  attorney  his  duty  in  the  pending  case  of  Lieutenant 
Fairbanks  and  the  Florida  Railroad,  was  to  protect  the 
Sequestration  fund  of  the  Confederate  government.  Under 
the  Confederate  Sequestration  Act  of  August  30th,  1861,' 
the  central  government  had  confiscated,  as  belonging  to  an 
alien  enemy,  $2,000,000  in  stock  and  $800,000  in  land  and 
mortgages  of  the  Florida  Railroad.    As  the  protector  of  this 

»  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  53.  p.  362.  *  Ibid.,  p.  355. 

•  Ibid.,  s.  iv,  V.  I,  pp.  586-92. 


196  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

land  in  Florida,  Attorney  Banks  had  united  with  others  in 
asking  the  county  court  to  call  Lieutenant  Fairbanks  before 
it  for  contempt/ 

This  meant  that  civil  officials  of  both  the  Confederacy 
and  the  county  of  Alachua  were  united  in  opposing  impress- 
ment by  the  military  of  the  Confederate  government.  It 
was  clearly  a  case  of  conflict  between  civil  authority  and 
military  authority.  After  the  failure  of  the  sheriff  to  exe- 
cute the  order  for  the  arrest  of  Fairbanks,  that  officer 
sought  the  advice  of  Colonel  C.  C.  Yonge,  Confederate 
attorney  at  Tallahassee.  He  was  advised  not  to  appear  in 
court  to  answer  for  contempt  and  to  continue  to  remove  the 
iron.^  He  did  so,  and  the  court,  unable  to  enforce  its  de- 
crees, dropped  the  case. 

Judge  Dawkins,  who  presided  in  the  Alachua  county 
court,  and  Governor  Milton  both  deplored  the  conflict,  both 
expressed  their  approval  of  the  military's  object  in  tearing 
up  the  track,  but  both  stood  stiffly  in  desiring  the  object  to 
be  obtained  by  very  regular  legal  process.^  The  Alachua 
county  court  failed  to  force  the  military  to  comply  with  the 
details  of  the  Confederate  Impressment  Act. 

The  opportunities  to  speculate  which  came  with  the  clos- 
ing of  southern  ports  by  the  Federal  blockading  fleet  and 
the  consequent  rising  market  not  only  affected  trading  in 
the  domestic  food  supply,  but  became  a  factor  in  the  busi- 

^Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  53,  p.  356. 

*Ibid.,  p.  363. 

«  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  53,  pp.  349-354.  Milton, — "  Nothing  can 
justify  a  conflict  between  the  state  and  Confed.  Govts,  but  an  absolute 
necessity  for  the  protection  of  civil  liberty  .  .  .  with  regard  to  the 
propriety  and  necessity  of  the  removal  and  appropriation  of  iron  from 
the  Florida  R.  R.,  my  opinions  have  undergone  no  change — that  as  a 
military  necessity  for  the  defense  of  the  state  the  iron  should  be  re- 
moved." Judge  Dawkins :  "A  conflict  between  the  civil  and  military 
is  at  all  times  to  be  lamented,  but  at  this  time  especially." 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  197 

nesses  of  "  blockade-running  "  and  "  salt  making  ".  These 
two  occupations — blockade  trade  and  salt  manufacturing 
— were  peculiarly  war-time  activities.^ 

Blockade-running  enabled  the  people  of  the  South 
to  obtain  some  necessities  and  many  luxuries  not  produced 
at  home.  It  also  gave  an  opportunity  for  extortion  in  trad- 
ing which  was  taken  advantage  of.  The  harbors  of  the 
Florida  coast  became  points  of  destination  for  steamers 
and  small  sailing  craft  laden  with  supplies  from  beyond  the 
Confederacy.  These  vessels  sailed  usually  from  West 
Indian  ports — particularly  the  Bahamas — with  goods  from 
the  United  States  or  England.  Merchants  in  Southern 
towns  co-operated  with  merchants  in  the  North  or  in  Europe 
in  the  exchange  of  commodities.  The  exchange  was  ef- 
fected usually  in  West  Indian  ports.  The  trade  was  some- 
times referred  to  as  "  the  three-cornered  trade  " — meaning 
the  South,  the  West  Indies,  and  Europe  or  the  North.^ 

From  the  many  bays  and  inlets  of  Florida  the  small,  fast 
craft  of  the  blockade  traders  slipped  out  to  sea  on  dark 
nights  laden  with  cotton,  tobacco,  or  turpentine ;  and  slipped 
into  cover  with  coffee,  tea,  medicines,  cloth,  fine  provisions, 
miscellaneous  assortments  of  manufactured  articles  (col- 
ogne, hair-brushes,  cheap  jewelry,  cheap  hardware,  etc.), 
arms  and  munitions  of  war.* 

Choctawhatchee  bay,  St.  Andrews  bay,  Deadman's  bay, 

^  See  Schwab,  op.  cit.,  chapts.  11  and  12,  passim. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  28,  pt.  2,  p.  511.  Letter  of  Nov.  17,  1863, 
on  blockade-running.    See  also  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  passim. 

'  See  bills  of  cargoes  in  following  letters :  Jenkins  to  Milton,  Jan. 
13,  1862;  Malverness  to  Milton,  Apr.  12,  1862;  Milton  to  Benjamin, 
Mch.  14,  1862;  Walker  to  Milton,  Mch.,  1862;  Noyes  to  Milton,  April 
16,  1862 ;  Finegan  to  Milton,  May  8,  i843 — Milton  Papers.  Also  Naval 
War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  17,  p.  52.  N,  Y.  Herald,  Feb.  21,  1864;  N.  Y. 
Times,  March  29,  1862. 


igS  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Apalachicola,  St.  Marks,  Cedar  Keys,  and  Tampa  were  the 
principal  points  of  operation  on  the  west  Florida  coast;  on 
the  east  coast — the  Indian  river,  Fernandina,  the  St.  Johns, 
St.  Augustine,  Mosquito  Inlet  and  Jupiter  inlet. ^ 

Law-respecting  blockade-runners  obtained  from  the  gov- 
ernor, the  Confederate  customs  officials  or  the  local  Con- 
federate military  authorities  permission  to  sail — clearance 
papers.  The  projectors  of  the  enterprise  in  this  case  often 
bonded  themselves  to  bring  back  to  Florida  for  the  cotton, 
tobacco  or  turpentine  taken  away,  a  certain  amount  of  nec- 
essary supplies  for  the  Confederate  or  state  governments." 
Occasionally  the  incoming  cargo  was  entirely  for  the  Con- 
federate war  department  or  some  commonwealth  govern- 
ment. Usually,  however,  the  cargoes  were  private  prop- 
erty and  were  retailed  at  exorbitant  figures  to  the  people 
of  the  interior,  in  Florida,  Georgia  and  Alabama. 

Some  Confederate  officials  in  Florida  were  guilty  of 
peculation  in  the  handling  of  government  supplies  through 
the  blockade,  selling  the  supplies,  or  a  portion,  and  pocket- 

^  St.  Andrews  Bay  and  St.  Georges  Sound  (on  which  was  Apala- 
chicola Bay)  on  the  west  coast  and  Mosquito  Inlet  on  the  east  were 
the  most  important  points.  Particularly  important  was  Mosquito  In- 
let for  traffic  from  the  Bahamas.  The  goods  brought  through  the 
blockade  on  the  east  coast  reached  the  interior  by  a  rather  intricate 
system  of  transshipments.  From  the  important  point  of  New  Smyrna 
(on  Mosquito  Inlet),  for  instance,  the  goods  were  haukd  in  wagons 
overland  to  the  St.  Johns  river.  Thence  they  were  shipped  in  small 
steamers  or  flats  to  Ft.  Brock  on  the  Ocklawaha  river.  The  next 
stage  was  to  Waldo  by  wagon,  on  the  Fernandina  and  Cedar  Keys 
Railroad.  Cotton,  turpentine,  and  tobacco  from  the  interior  and  some- 
times from  beyond  Florida  came  by  this  route  to  the  coast.  N.  Y. 
Herald,  Sept.  12,  1862.    Report  from  Florida  "  Loyalist ". 

*  Milton  to  Montgomery,  Oct.  2,  1863 ;  Beauregard  to  Milton,  Oct. 
13,  1863;  Milton  to  Florida  Congressional  Delegation,  Aug.  18,  1862; 
Milton  to  Randolph,  June  25,  1862;  Proclamation  by  the  governor, 
Aug.  14,  1S62— Milton  Papers. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR 


199 


ing  some  or  all  of  the  proceeds.  Confederate  officials  en- 
gaged in  blockade  trade,  and  then  sold  stuff  thus  imported 
at  high  rates  to  the  government  which  employed  them/ 

Governor  Milton  condemned  blockade-running.  He 
was  in  touch  with  the  practice.  He  received  frequent 
communications  from  Confederate  custom  officials  at 
Florida  ports.  He  tried  to  investigate  the  traffic,  and 
he  pronounced  it  bad.  He  believed  that  it  substantially 
relieved  the  pressure  felt  by  the  loss  of  southern  cot- 
ton; that  it  tended  to  lower  the  value  of  Confederate 
securities;  that  it  took  from  the  South  much  wealth  of 
primary  importance  to  exchange  for  articles  of  luxury; 
that  it  encouraged  speculation  in  trading  detrimental  to 
social  welfare;  that  it  put  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy  in- 
formation concerning  the  condition  of  the  Confederacy; 
and  that  it  invited  invasion  in  retaliation  by  the  Federal 
government.^     The  governor  was  a  patriotic  man  and  his 

1  Hernando  to  Milton,  Oct.  15,  1862,  Milton  Papers.  "  Salt  was  selling 
at  $10.00  per  sack  on  first  arrival  of  blockade  runners,  but  as  soon 
as  Confederate  Quartermaster  Sumner  arrived  things  changed  and 
salt  was  sold  at  $30  per  sack  and  at  even  $50  in  other  localities." 
Gov.  Milton  stated  that  complaints  such  as  the  foregoing  were  of  fre- 
quent occurrence.  See  also  Taylor  to  Milton,  Nov.  11,  1862;  papers 
concerning  the  purchase  of  goods  by  Confederate  officials  and  sale  to 
Confederate  Govt.,  1862-3;  Simpkins  to  Meyers,  Apr.  14,  1862;  Noyes 
to  Milton,  Apr.  22,  1862;  Taylor  to  Floyd,  Apr.  3,  1862;  Milton  to 
Randolph,  Apr.  11,  1862 — Milton  Papers. 

'  Milton  to  Randolph,  June  25,  1862.  "  Citizens  charged  exorbitant 
prices  for  return  cargoes,"  wrote  Milton.  "  I  made  inquiry  and  found 
that  co-partnership  existed,  formed  by  merchants  in  New  Orleans, 
Havana,  and  New  York  for  blockade  trade,  where  it  is  exchanged 
for  cotton  from  southern  ports.  The  exchange  is  made  by  partners 
at  Havana  or  Nassau.  This  traffic  is  not  unknown  to  those  in  com- 
mand of  the  blockading  fleet.  By  such  base  means  not  only  is  cotton 
obtained  at  New  York  and  other  Northern  cities,  but  information 
prejudicial  to  our  best  interests  is  obtained,  our  slaves  enticed  away, 
and  ig^norant  citizens  corrupted  by  southern  partners — men  of  northern 
birth  or  vile  Jews  professing  to  supply  the  people  of  the  South  with 


200  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

views  are  given  at  length  because  they  represent  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  traffic  given  by  no  inconsiderable  number 
in  Florida  and  adjoining  states.  When  we  are  told  in  the 
official  report  on  the  capture  of  the  big  steam  blockade- 
runner  "  Emma  "  that  her  cargo  (about  to  slip  into  Flor- 
ida) consisted  in  large  part  of  barrels  of  oranges,  bananas, 
ladies'  shoes,  fans,  hats,  parasols,  cloaks,  children's  dolls 
and  picture  books,  etc.,"  ^  we  are  apt  to  conclude  that  the 
necessities  of  life  and  the  munitions  of  war  were  not  the 
only  things  traded  in.  But  admitting  the  fact  that  many 
unnecessary  things  came  through  the  blockade,  the  truth 
remains  that  through  the  blockade  came  some  of  the  prime, 
vital  necessities  of  war  not  easily  obtainable  elsewhere; 
namely,  ammunition,  arms,  and  medicines.  These  things 
the  Confederacy  could  not  then  produce  in  either  sufficient 
quantity  or  necessary  quality,  and  it  could  not  do  without 
them.  The  governor  realized  this  when  in  the  spring  of 
1863  hs  suggested  to  Jefferson  Davis  "An  Act  of  Congress 
prohibiting  under  severe  penalties  all  commercial  inter- 
course with  foreign  nations,  except  such  as  should  be  au- 

salt,  coffee,  etc."  Also  Milton  to  McClellan,  Aug.  31,  1864,  "  Fruitful 
of  villainy  and  corruption,  tends  to  depreciate  currency  and  to  encour- 
age the  continuation  of  the  war,  etc."  Also  Griffin  to  Milton,  Oct.  5, 
1862,  Milton  Papers.  "  I  am  assured  by  captains  of  blockading  ves- 
sels that  nina  out  of  ten  bales  of  cotton  going  to  Nassau  are  shipped 
to  New  York  City,  etc."  Also  Oman  to  Milton,  Oct.  17,  1862;  Milton 
to  Seddon,  May  10,  1863;  Milton  to  Montgomery,  Oct.  12,  1862; 
Milton  to  the  Florida  Delegation,  Aug.  18,  1862;  Governor's  Messages, 
Nov.  17,  1862;  Nov.  21,  1864 — Milton  Papers.  Also  Laws  of  Florida, 
I2th  sess.,  1863,  resolution  8:  "Whereas  the  export  of  cotton,  of 
tobacco  and  other  products  from  the  Confederate  States  by  private 
enterprise  and  private  emolument  tends  to  depreciate  the  currency, 
corrupt  public  morals,  and  to  lessen  the  production  of  food,  etc." 
See  also  for  entire  South,  Schwab,  Confederate  States,  chap.  11 — a 
discussion  by  an  authority. 
*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  17,  p.  52. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  201 

thorized  by  the  Government  through  special  agents  and  ex- 
clusively for  the  purposes  of  Government."  ^ 

Much  of  the  cotton  and  turpentine  which  was  exported 
found  its  way  to  the  Northern  states;  and  some  of  the 
goods  which  came  in  return  had  "  English  stamps  over  the 
Yankee  trade-marks  ".^  Horses  and  wagons  often  sorely 
needed  for  military  purposes  were  in  the  hands  of  mer- 
chants interested  in  the  blockade  traffic'  The  attitude  of 
the  Confederate  government  was  favorable  to  the  trade  in 
Florida,  in  spite  of  Governor  Milton's  protests.* 

Scant  record  is  left  of  blockade-running  on  the  Florida 
coast. ^  It  is  impossible  to  know  definitely  the  extent  of 
the  commerce.  Perhaps  a  few  hundred  cargoes  of  small 
vessels  were  all  that  passed  into  Florida.  From  May,  1861, 
to  May,  1865,  the  federal  fleet  captured  either  just  off  the 
Florida  coast  or  in  Florida  seaports  160  craft  engaged  in 
the  blockade  trade — 88  schooners,  49  sloops,  16  steamers, 

^Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  iv,  v.  2,  pp.  487-9.    Apr.  15,  1863. 

*  Milton  to  iSeddon,  May  10,  1862 ;  Milton  to  Florida  Congressional 
Delegation,  August  18,  1862;  Governor's  message,  Nov.  17,  1862, 
Milton  Papers,  all  refer  to  trade  relations  with  the  North.  "  Some  of 
the  goods  were  manufactured  in  the  United  States,  and  over  the  manu- 
facturer's stamps  upon  tnese  goods  the  name  of  English  manufacturers 
were  stamped,  which  upon  being  removed  showed  the  cunning  device 
of  Yankee  villainy." 

'  Milton  to  Seddon,  May  16,  1863,  "  In  South  Florida  families  of  sol- 
diers in  Virginia  are  threatened  with  starvation.  The  state  has  pur- 
chased supplies  for  them  but  cannot  get  teams  to  haul.  The  specu- 
lators interested  in  the  blockade  are  using  these  teams,"  etc.  Also 
Taylor  to  Floyd,  April  3,  1862,  Milton  Papers. 

*  Milton  to  Randolph,  Jan.  25,  1862,  and  reply,  Milton  Papers.  "The 
Department"  (Confederate  war  department),  wrote  the  secretary, 
"has  no  legal  authority  to  stop  the  export  of  cotton  except  to  prevent 
it  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy."  Also  Milton  to  Seddon, 
May  10,  1863;  Milton  to  Florida  Delegation,  August  18,  1862,  Milton 
Papers. 

'  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  passim. 


202  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

2  yachts,  2  pilot  boats,  i  bark,  i  brig,  and  i  ship/  The 
average  career  of  the  blockade-runner  was  popularly  put  at 
three  or  four  successful  trips  before  capture.  Judged  by  the 
record  of  captured  blockade-runners  Florida  was  abreast 
of  the  other  Southern  seaboard  states  in  the  traffic.  Of  the 
approximately  1,1  cx)  craft  captured  in  Southern  waters, 
about  one-seventh  were  taken  along  the  Florida  coast.  The 
great  majority  of  these  were  out-bound  when  taken. ^ 

With  the  tightening  of  the  cordon  of  Federal  war-ships 
during  '63-'65  and  the  occupation  of  the  seaports — Fernan- 
dina,  Jacksonville,  St.  Augustine,  Apalachicola,  Cedar 
Keys,  Tampa — the  number  of  craft  which  succeeded  in 
getting  through  decreased. 

Did  the  trade  pay  those  engaged  in  it  for  profit?  It  prob- 
ably did,  or  it  would  not  have  continued  so  persistently  in 
the  face  of  enormous  difficulties.  The  United  States  con- 
sul at  Nassau,  which  was  a  favorite  point  of  departure  for 
the  east  coast  of  Florida,  estimated  four  voyages  to  a  craft 
as  an  average  before  capture  by  the  blockading  fleet. ^  He 
took  for  an  example  a  certain  blockade-runner  from  Nassau 
— the  "Ella  and  Annie"  (steamer).  On  the  voyages  to 
the  South  her  cargoes  were  valued  at  approximately  $100,- 
000  gold,  outside  the  Confederacy.  On  return  trips  she 
brought  cargoes  averaging  1,300  bales  of  cotton  of  400 

*  Estimate  made  up  from  Rpt.  Sect,  of  War  (U.  S.),  1865-66,  pp. 
457-489.  Three  or  four  of  the  steamers  and  about  a  dozen  of  the  sail- 
ing crafts  were  denominated  "  English  "  or  "  British  ". 

^  Rpt.  Sect,  of  War,  1865-66,  pp.  457-489.  1,271  craft  are  recorded 
as  captured  by  the  blockading  fleet.  175  of  these  were  in  foreign 
waters  or  "  at  sea ". 

'  Four  successful  voyages  per  ship  might  be  a  bit  too  high.  Six 
vessels,  for  instance,  cleared  from  Apalachicola  during  the  first  six 
months  of  1862.  Five  of  these  were  captured  on  the  outward  trip  or 
return.    See  Memoranda,  1862,  Milton  Papers. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR 


203 


pounds  per  bale,  which  at  45  cents  per  pound  amounted  to 
$234,000  gold.  Deducting  the  cost  of  the  voyage  to  Flor- 
ida and  back — estimated  at  $15,000,  and  the  value  of  the 
carge,  $100,000,  there  is  left  a  net  profit  of  $119,000  per 
voyage.  If  this  craft  could  accomplish  the  average  four 
voyages  and  was  lost  on  the  fifth  with  her  entire  cargo, 
the  loss  would  amount  to  $100,000  value  of  the  steamer, 
and  $100,000  value  of  the  cargo  and  $15,000  expense  of 
voyage;  in  all,  $215,000  loss,  while  the  profits  would  have 
amounted  to  $476,000;  deducting  the  $215,000  you  have 
$261,000  in  net  profits  on  the  transaction  for  such  a  block- 
ade-runner as  the  "  Ella  and  Annie  " — more  than  200  per 
cent  in  probably  a  few  months'  time.^ 

Blockade-running  induced  the  Federal  army  and  navy  to 
seek  actively  the  land  control  of  all  points  of  entry  along 
the  Florida  coast.  Salt-making,  the  other  war-time  busi- 
ness of  the  seacoast,  had  ultimately  a  similar  effect.  Dur- 
ing the  first  year  of  war,  works  for  the  making  of  salt  by 
boiling  sea-water  in  great  kettles  and  sheet-iron  boilers 
were  established  along  the  bays  and  sequestered  inlets  of 
the  Florida  coast,  particularly  on  the  western  coast  between 
Choctawhatchee  bay  and  Tampa. ^  The  industry  grew  so 
rapidly  that  by  the  autumn  of  1862  thousands  of  bushels  of 
salt  were  being  manufactured  daily  and  scores  of  teams 
were  hauling  it  into  the  more  populous  interior — most  of 
it,  out  of  the  state.  Several  thousand  men  were  employed 
in  the  work. 

By  Confederate  law  salt-makers  were  exempted  from 
military  service.     One  sickening  result  of  this  exemption 

^  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  9,  pp.  80-81.  Rpt.  of  S.  C.  Hawley,  U.  S. 
Consul  at  Nassau.  See  also  Schwab,  Confederate  States,  chap.  11; 
and  Rhodes,  U.  S.,  vol.  v,  chap.  28. 

2  Everett  to  Milton,  Dec.  10,  1862,  Milton  Papers. 


204  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

was  the  extreme  eagerness  of  many  people  to  be  enrolled 
among  the  salt-makers.  It  was  less  dangerous  boiling  sea- 
water  in  kettles  than  running  the  risk  of  Federal  bullets 
and  even  more  dreadful  disease  in  the  army.  The  Florida 
legislature  encouraged  the  industry  thus  springing  up  on 
its  usually  lonely  seacoast.  The  privilege  of  making  salt  in 
Florida  was  cordially  extended  in  resolutions  of  the  legis- 
lature to  the  government  and  the  citizens  of  neighboring 
states.^  The  Florida  state  government  organized  the  salt- 
makers  in  companies  and  furnished  them  with  arms  and 
ammunition.^  The  officers  of  this  semi-military  organiza- 
tion were  appointed  by  the  governor  of  Florida. 

Although  an  abundance  of  salt  was  made  within  the  state, 
the  price  of  the  commodity  did  not  go  down.  It  went 
steadily  up.  The  people  of  Florida  were  in  actual  want  of 
salt."  This  want  caused  the  governor  to  propose  that  the 
state  tax  the  industry  by  appropriating  one-tenth  of  the  salt 
made.  The  most  shameful  cases  of  local  "  cornering  the 
market  "  developed  in  connection  with  the  salt  trade. 

The  industry   in  West  Florida  became  an   appreciable 

^  Laws  of  Florida,  12th  sess.,  Dec,  1862,  resolution  13.  The  resolu- 
tions were  a  response  to  requests  from  neighboring  states.  For  ex- 
ample, in  April,  1862,  Gov.  Shorter,  of  Alabama,  requested  of  Gov. 
Milton  that  the  state  of  Alabama  be  allowed  to  manufacture  salt  in 
Florida,  as  the  saline  deposits  in  Alabama  were  not  sufficient.  The 
request  was  granted,  Milton  Papers. 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  12th  sess.,  Dec,  1862,  resolution  30. 

'Governor's  message,  Nov.  17,  1862;  Nov.  21,  1864;  Hunter  to 
Milton,  Apr.  27th,  1862 — Milton  Papers.  There  was  great  want  of  salt 
in  East  Florida.  One  man  was  reputed  to  be  in  control  of  all  available 
salt  in  that  portion  of  the  state  and  to  be  holding  it  for  very  high 
prices.  Some  people  to  get  the  salt  forged  orders  from  the  Confeder- 
ate Government  for  it.  See  also  correspondence  between  Floyd,  Dan- 
cey,  Simmons,  Milton  and  Gregory  over  the  salt  question  at  Apalachi- 
cola.  West  Florida,  where  a  genuine  local  "  salt  corner "  developed. 
Milton  Papers,  Nov.  1861  to  Jan.  1862. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  205 

factor  in  the  general  economic  situation  there.  The  food 
consumed  by  the  salt-makers  and  the  forage  consumed  by 
the  horses  and  mules  used  in  hauling  the  salt  from  the  state 
helped  rapidly  to  exhaust  the  already  dwindling  supply  of 
forage,  bread,  and  meat  in  Florida.  Many  of  the  laborers 
employed  came  from  other  states.  Considerable  commis- 
saries were  operated  to  support  them.  Wagons,  horses, 
and  teamsters  needed  sometimes  by  the  state  and  counties 
for  the  indigent  or  by  the  military  for  its  purposes  were  in 
the  hands  of  salt-makers. 

The  industry  was  not  entirely  a  matter  of  private  en- 
terprise. Large  works  were  operated  by  the  subsistence 
bureau  of  the  Confederate  government  for  the  army.  By 
the  advent  of  1863  the  value  of  salt-works  in  Florida 
amounted  to  more  than  three  million  dollars.^  Florida  had 
become  one  of  the  most  important  states  in  the  Confeder- 
acy in  the  manufacture  of  this  commodity.  Probably  5,000 
men  and  boys  labored  in  the  salt-works.^  Her  very  isola- 
tion, poverty,  and  uncleared  forests  near  the  sea  proved 
assets  of  value.  Fuel  and  sea-water  were  cheap.  Labor 
was  not  wanting  as  long  as  salt-making  exempted  men  from 
fighting. 

The  production  of  salt  for  the  people  of  the  Con- 
federacy was  an  important  service — far  too  important 
to  be  overlooked  by  the  Federal  Government.  In  Oc- 
tober,   1862,    salt-works    on    St.    Josephs    bay    and    near 

^  Before  the  end  of  1864  more  than  $6,000,000  of  such  property 
(kettles,  boilers,  furnaces,  warehouses,  wagons,  sacks,  etc.)  had  been 
destroyed  by  the  Federal  fleet.  This  estimate  is  based  on  Northern 
sources.  See  Moore,  Retell.  Red.,  v.  8,  p.  419;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  sth, 
1864.    Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  17,  pp.  593-601. 

>*  Estimate  based  upon  reports  in  Naval  War  Reds.,  see  particularly 
s.  i,  V.  19,  pp.  375-377,  reports  of  Lt.  Comd.  Hart  and  Acting-Master 
Browne,  who  took  prominent  part  in  destroying  works. 


2o6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Cedar  Keys  were  destroyed  by  the  blockading  fleet.^  Some 
private  dwellings  were  burned  in  the  general  destruction — 
accomplished  practically  without  opposition.  These  inci- 
dents inaugurated  the  extensive  raiding  of  salt-works  in 
Florida.  On  November  24th  a  Federal  expedition  from 
Pensacola  entered  St.  Andrews  bay.  It  was  night.  "  The 
sky  was  lit  up  to  east  and  west  away  inland  for  a  long  dis- 
tance," reported  the  Federal  commander.  "  Fog  hung  over 
the  water  "  next  morning  as  the  Federal  boats  approached 
the  usually  lonely  shores  of  St.  Andrews  bay.  "As  we  came 
nearer  we  not  only  heard  voices  but  we  heard  dogs  barking, 
and  horses  neighing,  and  we  felt  quite  sure  we  had 
stumbled  upon  a  company  of  cavalry,"  stated  Lieutenant 
Commander  Hart,  of  the  "  Albatross  ".  "I  thought  I  would 
startle  them,"  he  continued,  "  and  ordered  a  shell  to  be  sent 
over  their  heads,  and  in  a  minute  there  was  heard  such 
shouting  and  confusion.  They  seemed  not  to  know  which 
way  to  run."  ^  Again  without  opposition  the  sailors  and 
marines  went  about  their  work  of  destruction.  By  Decem- 
ber 8th,  466  salt  pans,  kettles  or  cauldrons,  each  over  a 
crude  bricked  furnace,  had  been  destroyed.  The  capacity 
of  these  466  pans  was  given  at  37,730  gallons  of  sea-water. 
About  a  thousand  bushels  of  salt  were  destroyed,  as  well  as 
some  fifty  wagons  and  several  score  shacks,  cabins,  and 
rough  store-houses.^  "  To  render  everything  completely 
unfit  for  future  use,"  reported  Hart,  "  we  had  to  knock 
down  all  the  brick  work,  to  destroy  the  salt  already  made, 
to  knock  in  the  heads  and  set  fire  to  barrels,  boxes  and 
everything  that  would  hold  salt,  and  to  disable  and  burn  up 
the  wagons  that  we  found  loaded  with  it." 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  17,  pp.  316-319.  N.  Y.  Herald,  Oct.  30, 
1862. 

^Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  19,  p.  373. 

» Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  19,  pp.  373-378.  Reports  of  Browne  and  Hart.  N.  Y. 
Herald,  Jan.  20th,  1864 — account. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR 


207 


This  expedition  learned  of  great  works  farther  up  the 
bay  belonging  to  the  Confederate  government.  Acting- 
Master  Browne,  of  the  ship  Bohio,  one  of  the  destroying 
fleet,  estimated  that  2,500  men  were  engaged  in  salt-making 
on  St.  Andrews  bay.^  At  this  time — 1862 — salt  was  selling 
in  the  interior  of  Florida  for  $1  per  pound,  yet  the  Fed- 
eral commander  reported  "  the  whole  coast  lined  with " 
salt-works.^ 

The  following  June  (1863),  four  establishments  on  St. 
Georges  sound  (West  Florida)  were  attacked,  65  furnaces 
destroyed,  30  houses  burned,  and  several  hundred  bushels 
of  salt  thrown  into  the  sea  or  mixed  with  sand.*  On  De- 
cember 2nd  of  this  year  the  Kent  salt-works  on  Lake  Ocala 
near  St.  Andrews  bay  were  demolished.  These  works  con- 
sisted of  13  boilers  of  300  gallons  capacity  each  and  could 
produce  130  bushels  of  salt  per  day.*  On  December  loth 
and  1 8th  more  formidable  operations  took  place  on  St.  An- 
drews bay.  There  the  Confederate  government  had  estab- 
lished extensive  works  with  a  capacity  of  400  bushels  of 
salt  per  day.  The  Federal  expedition  consisting  of  92 
sailors  fired  the  2y  buildings  housing  the  workmen  and 
stores,  knocked  to  pieces  222  furnaces  and  kettles,  and  ren- 
dered useless  2,000  bushels  of  salt  ready  for  shipment.  The 
raiders  then  turned  their  attention  to  the  private  works  that 
lined  the  bay  shore  for  seven  miles.  They  destroyed  198 
such  establishments  employing  507  furnaces  and  300  build- 
ings. Before  they  had  completed  their  work  they  had 
burned  32  homes  in  the  little  village  of  St.  Andrews.  The 
total  destruction  of  private  property  was  estimated  by  the 

1  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  19,  p.  277. 

*  Rpt.  of  Acting-Master  Browne. 

'  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  17,  pp.  467-472. 

*  Rpt.  Sect.  Navy,   1864-5,   pp.   372-3.     N.    Y.   Times,  Jan.   7,    1864. 
Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  17,  p.  593. 


2o8  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Federal  commander  at  $2,500,000;  of  Confederate  prop- 
erty, $500,000/  There  is  no  evidence  materially  to  im- 
pugn the  accuracy  of  this  estimate.  Several  companies  of 
irregular  Confederate  cavalry  stood  in  the  woods  and 
watched  what  went  on,  unable  to  render  assistance  because 
of  the  guns  of  the  war-ships. 

Salt-making  was  profitable  and  necessary.  Therefore  it 
died  hard  in  Florida.  Within  a  few  weeks  the  smoke  of 
industry  was  again  rising  from  the  shores  of  St,  Andrews 
bay,  and  scarcely  two  months  later  (during  February, 
1864),  boat  expeditions  from  the  blockading  fleet  began 
over  again  the  work  of  destruction.  The  new  Confederate 
works  had  been  in  operation  only  ten  days.  They  covered  a 
clearing  one-half  mile  square.^  The  loss  amounted  to  prob- 
ably several  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

One  week  before  this  destruction  on  St.  Andrews  bay, 
St.  Marks  bay  had  been  visited  by  the  salt-destroyers  (Feb- 
ruary 17-19).  The  Federal  expedition  landed  some  dis- 
tance from  the  salt-works,  marched  forty  miles  through  the 
woods,  attacked  the  workmen  from  the  rear  while  the  ships 
appeared  in  front,  and  all  there — the  guard  included — either 
fled  or  surrendered.  Hundreds  of  furnaces — 50  of  them 
under  sheet-iron  boilers  of  near  1,000  gallons  capacity  each 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v,  17,  pp.  593-601.  Rpt.  Sect.  Navy,  1864-5, 
PP-  372-3.  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  8,  pp.  280-281.  N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan. 
7th  and  19th,  1864.  The  Herald's  estimate  of  property  destroyed  on  St. 
Andrew's  Bay  is  as  follows:  500  boilers  and  kettles,  averaging  150 
gallons  each,  at  $5.00  per  gallon  =  $375,000;  value  of  manf.  salt, 
$120,000;  Con.  Govt,  works,  ^  mile  square,  with  buildings,  $500,000; 
199  small  salt  works  of  private  companies,  $1,990,000 — total,  $2,985,000. 

'  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  17,  pp.  467-472.  Rpt.  Seet.  Navy,  1864-5, 
p.  379.  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  8,  pp.  280-281.  A  partial  list  of  the 
property  destroyed  included  165  kettles  and  pans  of  an  average  capacity 
of  100  gallons  each;  53  large  boilers  of  800  gallons  each;  98  "brick 
furnaces  " ;  and  100  buildings — the  total  valued  at  $250,000. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  209 

— were  broken  up.  250  houses  and  a  quantity  of  provisions 
were  burned.  The  estimated  value  of  the  property  lost  here 
was  $3,000,000.  Most  of  the  works  were  said  to  be  Con- 
federate property.^ 

A  Federal  warship  entered  St.  Andrews  bay  again  on  Oc- 
tober 25th,  1864.  *'We  arrived  at  the  entrance  of  the  bay  at 
8  P.  M.,"  stated  the  commander.  "  The  fires  of  the  salt- 
works were  seen  for  miles  along  the  beach."  Before  day- 
light a  small  body  of  marines  went  ashore  and  destroyed 
the  works  of  the  Confederate  government.^  The  process 
was  repeated  in  February,  1865.^  In  December,  1864,  the 
works  on  Old  Tampa  bay  were  swept  away  by  the  block- 
ading fleet* 

Certainly  these  raids  on  a  war-time  industry  were  among 
the  most  easily  accomplished  and  disastrous  blows  struck 
the  Confederacy  in  Florida.  The  government  lost  several 
million  dollars  worth  of  valuable  property,  private  owners 
lost  about  as  much  as  the  government,  and  the  people  lost 
the  salt  which  they  needed  very  much.  The  blockading 
squadron  did  the  work.  Never  more  than  250  sailors  and 
marines  took  part  in  the  destruction — aided  sometimes  by 
runaway  negroes  and  white  "  Union  men  ".  The  Federal 
navy  thus  not  only  kept  out  of  the  South  necessary  supplies 
from  abroad  but  it  almost  put  a  stop  to  the  production  in 
Florida  of  a  very  necessary  commodity — salt.®     It  seems 

^  Rpt.  Ad.  Bailey,  Moore,  Rehell.  Red.,  v.  8,  pp.  414-420;  Rpt.  Sect. 
Navy,  1864-S,  pp.  377-8. 
*N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  8,  1864. 

•  Rpt.  Sect.  Navy,  1865-6,  p.  351. 

*  Rpt.  Sect.  Navy,  1864-5.  In  July,  1864,  extensive  works  in  Tampa 
Bay  had  been  destroyed  by  the  Federal  fleet.  N.  Y.  Herald,  Dec.  17, 
1864. 

'  N.  Y.  Herald.  Jan.  20,  1864,  contains  an  interesting  and  suggestive 
article  on  the  importance  of  Florida's  salt  works  by  Acting-Master 
Browne,  who  commanded  several  expeditions  along  the  Florida  coast. 


2IO  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

passing  strange  that  the  Confederate  government  did  so 
little  to  protect  its  works  in  Florida. 

Cotton  and  tobacco  paid  for  most  stuff  which  came 
through  the  blockade.  In  this  way  agriculture  in  Florida 
was  related  to  blockade-trading.  The  people  of  the  South 
at  this  time  had  more  need  of  native  food  products  than  of 
cotton  and  tobacco  for  exchange.  The  big  profits  possible 
in  blockade-trading  constituted  for  some  planters  and  mer- 
chants a  real  temptation  to  continue  or  even  to  expand  the 
cultivation  of  cotton  and  tobacco. 

Early  in  1863  an  attempt  was  made  in  the  legislature  to 
check  somehow  by  law  the  planting  of  cotton  and  tobacco. 
The  attempt  failed.  "Many  of  our  planters,"  said  Governor 
Milton,  "  had  commenced  to  plant  and  the  crops  generally 
would  have  been  planted  before  it  was  possible  to  secure 
legislation  to  prohibit  or  limit  the  right  to  plant  cotton. 
Moreover,  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  the  planters  of 
Florida  induced  them  last  year  to  plant  cereals  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  cotton."  ^  The  governor  was  optimistic  over 
patriotic  agriculturalists.  The  legislature  was  not.  By  sta- 
tute of  December  3rd,  1863,  that  body  tried  by  law  to  regu- 
late planting. 

It  was  enacted  that  no  more  than  one  acre  of  cotton  per 
laborer  employed  or  one-quarter  of  an  acre  of  tobacco, 
should  be  planted.  A  fine  of  $3,000  was  fixed  for  the 
breaking  of  this  law — one-half  of  which  was  to  go  to  the 
informer  and  the  other  half  to  the  indigent  within  the 
county.  The  law  exempted  from  its  operations  those  who 
would  manufacture  all  the  cotton  which  they  raised  and 
would  sell  the  cloth  to  the  people  of  the  state  at  a  rate  fixed 
by  the  commissioners  of  the  Confederate  government.^ 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  iv,  v.  11,  pp.  487-9.     Milton  to  Pres.  Davis, 
Apr.  15,  1863. 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  12th  sess.,  1862,  chap.  1422. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  2II 

The  southern  states  were  isolated  and  thrown  upon  their 
own  resources  during  the  civil  war.  Except  for  the  block- 
ade trade,  Florida  was  pretty  much  cut  off  from  the  world 
market.  The  neighboring  Confederate  states  were  almost 
as  poor  as  she.  More  than  ever  before  in  its  history  each 
locality  found  it  necessary  to  get  its  living,  without  ex- 
change, from  within  its  bounds.  The  country  store-keeper 
and  the  town  jobber  either  closed  out  or  were  forced  to 
reduce  their  stocks.  The  state's  slender  factory  equipment 
was  worked  to  the  utmost.  General  William  Bailey's  small 
cloth  factory  at  Monticello,  a  shoe  factory,  and  a  wool-card 
factory  at  the  same  place  were  guarded  jealously  by  the 
state  government,  which  bought  regularly  about  two-thirds 
of  the  output.  Monticello  was  the  chief  manufacturing 
point  in  the  state — in  fact  the  Bailey  mill  was  the  only  cloth 
mill  in  Florida.^ 

Neighborhood  grist  mills  loomed  into  great  importance. 
Back-yard  tanneries  tried  to  supply  the  demand  for  leather. 
Country  blacksmiths  and  crude  foundries  mended  worn- 
out  tools.  Ingenious  housewives  made  coffee  from  parched 
potatoes  or  corn,  tea  from  blackberry  leaves,  soap  from 
ashes  and  grease,  dyes  from  the  various  herbs  of  the  woods, 
and  spun  and  wove  with  an  industry  bom  of  patriotism  and 
necessity.^  The  war  entailed,  in  fact,  a  temporary  indus- 
trial revolution. 

Productive  industry  was  checked.  Not  only  were  many 
small  farmers  away  in  the  army — almost  ten  thousand  of 
them — but  also  many  overseers  from  the  plantations.  The 
absence  of  overseers  left  some  plantations  without  directors 

'  Milton  to  Cunningham  (Maj.  and  Confed.  Q.-M.  at  Atlanta,  Ga.), 
June  13,  1864;  Cunningham  to  Milton,  June  21,  1864;  Seddon  to  Mil- 
ton, July  30,  1864 — Milton  Papers. 

*  I  obtain  such  facts  from  conversation  with  people  who  experienced 
this. 


2 1 2  RECONSTR UCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

for  the  slave  labor  and  seriously  interfered  with  produc- 
tion. The  negro  slave  was  in  need  of  direction  and  control. 
Some  of  the  overseers  went  as  substitutes  for  those  men 
who  did  not  wish  to  go  into  the  army  and  who  had  means 
to  buy  off.  An  overseer  received  a  salary  of  from  $300  to 
$1,000  per  annum.  As  a  substitute  he  received  two  or  three 
thousand  dollars  or  more.^ 

While  the  war  thus  drew  away  from  Florida  those 
needed  at  home,  it  also  induced  many  to  make  desperate  ef- 
forts to  stay  at  home  in  order  to  avoid  the  terrible  danger 
and  hardship  of  actual  campaigning.  Like  Monsieur  Bom- 
pard,  of  Tarascon,  they  were  apt  to  be  out  of  danger's  way 
and  yet  wield  positive  opinions  about  defense.  Governor 
Milton  inferred  that  some  "  stayed  at  home  and  bragged  on 
states  rights".^  There  was  a  scramble  among  such  persons  to 
hunt  substitutes  or  to  be  appointed  commissary  agents  or 
civil  employees  of  the  state,  county,  or  Confederate  govern- 
ment; or  to  prove  that  they  were  in  certain  industrial,  man- 
agerial, or  intellectual  professions  exempted  from  the  oper- 
ations of  the  Confederate  Conscript  Act.  Millers,  salt- 
makers,  tanners,  various  other  skilled  laborers  and  preach- 
ers sought  to  find  relief  from  the  army  behind  their  profes- 
sions. ' 

^  Milton  to  Davis,  Feb.  17,  and  May  23,  1863 ;  Davis  to  Milton,  Sept. 

I,  1863 ;  Milton  to  the  Florida  Delegation,  Mar.  23,  1863 — Milton 
Papers.  Milton  wrote  to  Pres.  Davis :  "  Overseers  should  be  exempted 
from  conscription,  not  owners  of  slaves.  The  safety  of  the  Confeder- 
ate states  depends  on  the  exemption  to  overseers."  To  Florida's  rep- 
resentatives in  Congress  he  wrote :  "  Overseers  are  readily  going  into 
service  as  substitutes.  The  amount  they  receive  is  sufficient  permanent 
support  for  themselves  and  families,  etc."  Later  to  Davis  he  wrote: 
"  Prices  paid  overseers  range  from  $300  to  $700  per  annum.  The  price 
paid  substitutes  ranges  from  $1,000  to  $5,000,  etc." 

'  Milton  to  Florida  Delegation,  Sept.  11,   1862,  Milton  Papers. 
•Milton  to  Davis,  Feb.   17,  May  23,   1863;  to  Fla.  delegation,  Sept 

II,  1862;  to  Seddon,  Jan.  11,  1864;  to  White,  Dec.  12,  1863;  to  Seddon, 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  213 

The  State  government  sought  exemption  from  service  in 
the  Confederate  army  for  its  civil  officials,  for  plantation 
overseers,  and  for  the  operatives  in  the  little  state  factories 
of  Monticello/  Citizens  of  Florida  and  citizens  of  neigh- 
boring states  established  themselves  with  kettles  on  the  sea- 
coast  because  salt-makers  were  exempted.  Governor  Milton 
stated  that  "  many  able-bodied  men  from  adjoining  and  this 
state  have  repaired  to  the  Florida  seacoast  and  under  pre- 
tense of  making  salt  have  been  holding  intercourse  with  the 
enemy;  others  have  been  lazy  loungers.  I  know  ten  men 
associated  in  salt-making  on  the  coast  for  the  past  six 
weeks.    They  have  not  made  a  bushel."  ^ 

Preachers,  physicians,  county  officials  multiplied  and 
claimed  exemption  under  Confederate  law.  Recruiting  offi- 
cers, much  plagued  by  subterfuge,  learned  to  interpret  the 
law  to  suit  themselves,  and  thereby  reduced  by  conscription 
the  ranks  of  the  exempted.  The  conscripted  appealed  to 
the  state  courts  if  they  had  any  case  at  all.  Three  of  these 
exemption  cases  reached  the  state  supreme  court.  That 
tribunal  was  lenient  toward  the  individuals  seeking  to  avoid 
serving  in  the  army.^ 

The  number  of  men  in  Florida  enjoying  exemption  from 

Oct.  29,  1863;  Daniels  to  Milton,  Feb.  14,  1864;  Gen.  Ords.  no.  69 
(Aug.  27,  1864)  from  Confed.  Adj.  and  Insp.  Gen. — Milton  Papers.  The 
Confed.  bureau  of  conscription  furnished  the  Confed.  commis.  bureau 
in  each  state  the  names  of  those  exempted  from  military  service.  The 
commissary  bureau  sought  its  sub-agents  from  this  class.  See  Milton 
to  Seddon,  May  14,  1864  (Milton  Papers),  giving  state  and  local  offi- 
cials exempted  from  service  in  the  Confed.  army,  about  600  in  all. 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  12th  sess.,  Dec,  1863,  resolution  no.  14,  praying 
for  exemption  of  workmen  in  Jeff.  Co.  fact.  Cunningham  to  Milton, 
June  13,  1864;  Seddon  to  Milton,  July  30,  1864 — Milton  Papers. 

''Milton  to  Fla.  delegation,  Sept.  11,  1862,  Milton  Papers. 

*  Fla.  Rpts.,  V.  ix;  King  vs.  Daniel,  pp.  91-99  (conscription  of  a 
preacher)  ;  Cook  vs.  Fernandez,  pp.  100-104  (conscription  of  a  physi- 
cian) ;  Hunt  vs.  Finegan,  pp.  105-111  (conscription  of  a  county  official). 


214  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

military  service  was  never  relatively  large.  A  statement  of 
Cjovernor  Milton  in  May,  1864,  shows  that  the  number  of 
state  and  local  officials  exempted  from  service  was  about 
600/  In  February,  1865,  those  officially  exempted  in  Flor- 
ida numbered  only  748,  of  whom  237  were  men  physically 
disabled;  153,  plantation  overseers;  152,  railway  employ- 
ees; 120,  state  officials ;  and  only  20,  ministers  of  the  gospel.^ 
Certain  farmers  throughout  the  state  gave  bond  to  the 
Confederate  government  to  deliver  a  specified  amount  of 
supplies  to  the  Confederate  commissary,  and  for  this  were 
exempted  from  military  service.'  Yet  the  Confederate  sub- 
sistence bureau  declared  that  the 

bonded  agriculturalists  are  as  much  in  the  service  as  they 
would  have  been  if  not  conditionally  exempted.  Whenever 
one  of  them  is  found  bartering  any  of  his  surplus  or  selling 
any  to  others  than  the  Government  or  families  of  officers  and 
soldiers,  or  at  rates  other  than  those  prescribed,  evidence  of 
the  fact  must  be  at  once  furnished  to  the  appropriate  enroll- 
ing officer  and  the  name  of  the  party  and  the  enrolling  officer 
sent  to  the  Bureau  of  Conscription.  The  District  Attorney 
shall  be  furnished  with  the  information  preliminary  to  a  prose- 
cution of  the  offender  on  his  bond.* 

Thus  the  bonded  farmer  was  held  to  his  contract  by  the 
double  menace  of  conscription  and  loss  of  his  bond.     In 

*  Milton  to  Seddon,  May  14,  1864,  Milton  Papers. 

'  Off.  Reds.  Retell. ,  s.  iv,  v.  3,  pp.  1102-3.  The  exemptions  were  as 
follows :  ministers  20,  editors  3,  newspaper  employees  8,  apothecaries  7, 
teachers  5,  physicians  27,  mail  contractors  8,  overseers  153,  railroad 
employees  152,  Confed.  officials  6,  foreigners  i,  coach-drivers  i. 

'  See,  for  examples,  contract  of  Confed.  Govt,  with  Wm.  Johnston 
(Madison  Co.),  Oct.  20,  1863;  Proclams.  of  Gov.,  Dec.  14,  1864,  and 
Jan.  19,  1865 — Milton  Papers. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  46,  pt.  2,  pp.  1214-16.  Circular  of  Con- 
fed. aubsist.  bureau,  Sept.  5,  1864. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR  215 

Florida  the  smaller  farms  were  the  most  productive  during 
the  war.  The  principal  food-stuffs  produced  were  corn, 
peas,  potatoes,  molasses,  sugar,  pork,  and  beef/ 

To  preserve  the  supply  of  corn  the  state  suppressed  early 
in  the  war  the  distilleries  of  corn  whiskey.  Those  distil- 
leries under  contract  with  the  Confederate  government 
were  allowed  to  continue  operations  upon  giving  to  the  state 
a  bond  of  $20,000 — to  be  forfeited  if  the  distillery  engaged 
in  private  trade.  ^ 

The  ultimate  object  here  in  examining  Florida's  eco- 
nomic condition  during  the  civil  war  is  to  arrive  at  some 
correlation  of  those  facts  which  historical  analysis  presents, 
and  which  all  together  and  with  the  larger  body  of  un- 
known facts  mark  the  effect  of  war  upon  the  state  of  Flor- 
ida. What,  in  synthesis,  was  the  character  of  economic  ad- 
justment to  war?  We  have  a  state  with  little  wealth  and 
small  population  going  out  of  a  strong  union,  facing  revo- 
lution, plunging  at  once  into  heavy  debt,  and  becoming  a 
member  of  a  new  union.  We  have  its  land  holdings  enor- 
mously increased  and  used  to  sustain  its  credit.  We  have 
banks  suspending  specie  payment  and  business  men  curtail- 
ing their  operations  for  the  threatened  storm.  We  have 
the  state  government  attempting  to  adjust  society  to  the 
new  regime  by  the  passage  of  legislation  arresting  legal 
processes  for  debt,  forbidding  the  payment  of  debts  to  an 
alien  enemy,  instituting  new  legal  tribunals,  legalizing  the 
suspension  of  specie  payment,  and  putting  an  arbitrary 
premium  upon  the  notes  and  securities  which  it  issued.    We 

1  Maj.  White  (Chf.  Con  fed.  Commiss.  for  Fla.)  to  Gen.  Miller, 
Nov.  12,  1864;  Miller  to  Seddon,  Nov.  14,  1864 — Milton  Papers.  Maj. 
White  stated  that  agriculture  in  Fla.  was  on  the  decline. 

^  Laws  of  Fla.,  12th  sess.,  1862,  chap.  1382;  1863,  chap.  1463.  Mes- 
sages of  Gov.  Milton,  Nov.  17,  1862 ;  Nov.  21,  1864 ;  contract  for  de- 
livery of  whiskey  to  Confed.  officials,  Nov.  i,  1863 — Milton  Papers. 


2i6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

have  the  beginning  of  military  operations  and  the  block- 
ade, respectively  draining  the  state  of  men  and  supplies  and 
cutting  off  supplies  from  abroad.  We  have  the  confiscation 
and  destruction  of  considerable  property  by  both  the  Union 
and  the  Confederacy  as  the  war  progressed.  We  have  the 
upspringing  of  certain  industries  and  commerce  born  of  the 
war.  We  find  that  some  citizens  of  Florida  took  advan- 
tage of  the  distraught  condition  of  society  to  buy  up  and 
hold  food  for  high  prices  and  otherwise  to  speculate  unpa- 
triotically.  We  have  the  state  government  attempting  to 
curb  speculation  by  law.  We  have  a  steady  increase  in  the 
price  of  food  and  clothing  and  a  steady  decrease  in  the 
amount.  We  find  Florida  undergoing  the  inevitable  conse- 
quences of  civil  war.  We  find  Kropotkin's  description  of 
France  in  the  Revolution  strangely  not  unfitted  to  Florida. 
"  The  circulation  of  produce  was  checked,"  he  said.  "Want 
knocked  at  the  door,  famine  was  abroad  in  the  land — such 
famine  as  had  hardly  been  seen  under  the  Old  Regime."  ^ 
We  have  the  state  and  the  county  governments  contributing 
directly  to  the  support  of  as  many  non-combatants  by  the 
end  of  the  war  as  there  were  soldiers  from  Florida  in  the 
field.  We  have  the  state  government  attempting  to  regulate 
production  and  to  some  extent  distribution.  We  find  ex- 
perience here  demonstrating  the  generalization  of  Kropotkin 
that  "  if  a  society,  a  citizen,  or  a  territory  were  to  guarantee 
the  necessities  of  life  to  its  inhabitants  it  would  be  com- 
pelled to  take  possession  of  what  is  absolutely  needed  for 
production — land,  machinery,  factories,  means  of  transpor- 
tation, etc."  We  find  friction,  confusion,  and  no  little  con- 
flict existing  between  Confederate  officials,  local  officials, 
and  private  owners  over  the  impressment  of  property — 
with  the  victory  usually  for  the  Confederacy.    We  find  that 

*  Conquest  of  Bread,  p.  62. 


ECONOMIC  ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WAR 


217 


by  1865  business  activity  was  dead  or  degenerated  into  un- 
healthy speculation.  We  observe  that  the  people  of  Flor- 
ida found  increased  difficulty  in  making  a  living  while  cut 
off  from  the  outside  world  and  subject  to  a  share  in  the 
support  of  the  Confederate  armies. 

Among  any  conclusions  reached  in  regard  to  Florida  it 
must  be  admitted  that  the  state's  experience  was  essentially 
the  same  as  the  others  in  the  lower  South ;  and,  also,  that  it 
was  the  blockade  more  than  battles  which  steadily  exhausted 
the  economic  strength  of  the  commonwealth.  In  civilized 
society,  particularly  in  a  one-staple  agricultural  society,  it  is 
difficult  for  men  to  live  successfully  unto  themselves.  Ex- 
change is  a  fundamental  law  of  life  and  the  modern  market- 
place is  the  wide  world. 


CHAPTER  IX 
The  Negro  and  the  War 

For  the  South,  the  Civil  War — sweeping  over  it  from 
end  to  end  like  a  devastating  fire — was  a  test  of  the  strength 
of  those  unwritten  laws  that  hold  a  civilized  society  to- 
gether. Among  the  Civil  War  phenomena  which  have 
evoked  favorable  comment  from  the  critical,  was  the  appar- 
ent faithfulness  and  gentleness — even  high-minded  human- 
ity— of  the  black  slave  during  the  hideous  turmoil  of  that 
period.  Certainly  the  social  discipline  of  Southern  slavery 
did  not  break  down  when  subjected  to  the  test  of  war.  To 
the  investigator  of  Southern  history,  however,  the  after-war 
verdicts  concerning  the  negro  are  hard  to  reconcile  with  the 
evident  preparedness  among  the  whites  before  and  during 
the  war  to  suppress  servile  insurrection.  The  sinister 
phantom  of  Santo  Domingo  hung  over  the  South  as  a 
brooding  shadow. 

Afterwards  many  ex-slaveholders  spoke  kindly  of  the 
slave  in  the  war,  and  such  well-meant  commendation  has 
had  no  little  influence  in  shaping  the  generalizations  of  his- 
torians as  to  what  went  on  during  the  conflict.  Governor 
Walker,  of  Florida,  an  ex-slaveholder,  declared  in  1865  to 
the  assembled  legislature,  that  "  the  world  had  never  seen 
such  a  body  of  slaves,  for  not  only  in  peace  but  in  war  they 
had  been  faithful  to  us.  During  much  of  the  time  of  the 
late  unhappy  difficulties  Florida  had  a  greater  number  of 
men  in  her  army  than  constituted  her  entire  voting  popula- 
tion.^    This,  of  course,   stripped  many  districts  of  their 

*  For  verification  of  this  conclusion,  see  Robertson,  Soldiers  of  Flor- 
218 


THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  WAR 


219 


arms-bearing  inhabitants  and  left  our  females  and  infant 
children  almost  exclusively  to  the  protection  of  our  slaves. 
They  proved  true  to  their  trust.  Not  one  instance  of  insult, 
outrage,  or  indignity  has  ever  come  to  my  knowledge.  They 
remained  at  home  and  made  provisions  for  our  Army."  ^ 

The  fact  is  that  the  Southern  slave  was  well-fed,  well- 
housed,  well-treated,  and  lastly,  well-watched  and  con- 
trolled ;  hence  the  peace  about  the  slave  quarters  on  isolated 
plantations  when  war  was  raging  at  no  great  distance. 
Many  slaves  in  the  white  households  loved  "  their  white 
people  "  and  in  return  were  loved  with  a  sincerity  proven  by 
experience.  They  needed  no  watching  and  controlling.  It 
was  to  them  that  the  "  master  "  confided  his  women  and 
little  children  when  he  went  away  to  fight.  It  was  of  them 
the  governor  was  thinking  when  he  said,  "  the  world  had 
never  seen  such  a  body  of  slaves  ".  These  family  servants 
earned  well  the  praise  for  faithfulness — and  yet  they  but 
proved  true  to  their- rearing  in  the  family  circles  of  the 
South's  aristocracy.  They  were  in  fact  the  black  part  of 
that  aristocracy.  They  stand  as  historical  examples  of  the 
truth  that  the  negro  character  may  successfully  adjust  itself 
to  the  sturdiest  and  best  conditions  of  Western  civilization. 
They,  the  small  minority  among  the  slaves,  were  the 
powerful  exemplars  of  one  good  aspect  in  a  system  despised 
and  condemned  as  a  pariah  among  social  systems  by  the 
meddlesome,  conscience-stricken  people  of  another  section. 

The  field  hands  were  normally  passive  under  the  stress 
of  war  because  they  were  semi-barbarous  people  held  in 
watchful  and  firm  restraint,  and  well-treated.     They  were 

ida,  muster  rolls ;  Off.  Reds.  Rebel!.,  s.  iv,  v.  2,  pp.  49-50.  The  highest 
number  of  votes  cast  in  any  election  in  Florida  before  the  war  was 
12,988,  according  to  Gov.  Milton. 

^  Address  of  the  Governor,  Dec.  18,  1865,  Wallace,  Carpet-bag  Rule, 
p.  23. 


220  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

not  consciously  faithful  and  humane  in  the  face  of  oppres- 
sion and  opportunity  to  rise  in  a  body,  for  neither  of  these 
two  conditions  existed  except  in  sporadic  cases.  If  they 
had  existed,  the  result  would  have  been  massacre  and  devas- 
tation to  vast  sections  of  the  South,  sufficient  to  have 
pleased  even  John  Brown.  The  murder,  rape,  and  rapine 
there  would  have  equalled  what  had  transpired  in  Santo 
Domingo.  The  slaves  did  not  rise.  The  South  was  not 
made  a  shambles — at  least  not  by  revolting  blacks — but  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  Southern  white  consciously 
strove  to  prevent  it  from  becoming  this.  Confederate 
armies  had  their  backs  to  a  veritable  powder  magazine,  and 
thousands  of  soldiers  in  the  ranks  knew  it.  This  is  what  in- 
vasion forced  upon  the  South.  A  memorable  phenomenon 
of  the  war  is  the  steadiness  with  which  Southern  society 
stood  the  impact  of  disaster  upon  disaster  in  its  very  midst 
without  becoming  hopelessly  demoralized  and  giving  way 
under  the  test  of  war. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  conflict  an  evidence  of  the  appre- 
hension in  the  South  over  the  negro  question  was  the  pas- 
sage of  laws  to  restrain  the  too  free  movements  of  the 
black.  In  Florida  during  the  autumn  of  1861  the  state 
legislature  amended  and  consolidated  the  various  enact- 
ments concerning  citizen  patrols.  The  counties  were  di- 
vided into  beats,  and  state  officials  announced  certain  pe- 
riods of  patrol  duty  for  certain  citizens  in  each  beat.  The 
patrols  moved  at  night  in  parties — usually  on  horseback. 
They  were  supposed  to  keep  informed  on  the  condition  and 
the  opinion  of  the  negroes  in  their  districts;  to  ride  over 
the  country  one  or  more  nights  each  week;  to  arrest  and 
examine  negroes  found  out  at  night;  to  apprehend  thieves 
(black  and  whi^te)  engaged  in  trading  plantation  products 
and  fixtures  under  cover  of  darkness;  to  seize  all  disor- 
derly vessels  harboring  or  dealing  with  negroes ;  to  prevent 


THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  WAR  221 

or  disperse  any  unlawful  assembly  of  negroes — free  or 
slave — and  to  take  from  the  hands  of  slaves  all  firearms. 

Four  or  more  negroes  together  in  a  confined  or  secret 
place  was  termed  an  "  unlawful  assembly  ".  The  patrol 
had  authority  to  enter  by  force  if  necessary  all  negro 
cabins  and  to  inflict  a  punishment  by  whipping,  not  to  ex- 
ceed twenty  lashes,  on  all  slaves  found  off  the  premises  of 
their  owners  without  a  written  permit  from  the  master.  If 
while  arresting  or  whipping  a  slave  the  black  should  act 
"  insolently  ",  the  patrol  was  authorized  by  law  to  inflict  ad- 
ditional punishment,  not  to  exceed  thirty-nine  lashes.^ 

There  was  nothing  new  in  principle  for  Florida  in 
this  patrol  law  of  1861,  nor  was  its  application  a  departure 
from  past  practice.^  The  patrols  were  designed  to  be  rural 
police.  How  effectively  Florida's  patrol  system  was  carried 
out  during  the  war  can  be  only  a  matter  of  conjecture.  It 
seems  reasonable  to  conclude  that  in  times  so  abnormal, 
with  so  many  of  the  active  men  away  in  the  army,  a  rigid 
enforcement  of  the  patrol  law  was  impossible.' 

The  material  well-being — if  not  the  very  existence — of 
the  state  depended  upon  the  labor  of  the  slave.  Invasion  was 

^  Laws  of  Florida,  nth  Session,  1861,  chapter  1291. 

'  For  a  summary  of  legislation  in  Florida  on  this  subject,  see  Hurd's 
(J.  C.)  The  Law  of  Freedom  and  Bondage  in  the  U.  S.  (1862),  v.  2, 
pp.  190-195.  A  patrol  law  was  enacted  by  the  territorial  legislature  in 
1825.  Additional  provisions  were  added  in  1832-33-36.  In  1827  a  law 
was  enacted  "  to  prevent  trading  with  negroes."  In  1828  the  death 
penalty  was  imposed  for  inciting  insurrection  among  slaves.  In  1840  an 
act  "prohibited  the  use  of  firearms  to  negroes."  Laws  of  1836  and 
1842  restricted  the  immigration  of  free  negroes.  In  1846  a  new  patrol 
law  was  enacted.  Also  see  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  iv,  v.  2,  p.  402,  for 
citing  of  Fla.  statute,  1851,  chap.  388,  in  reference  to  blacks  on  plan- 
tations. 

»  Before  the  end  of  1863  more  than  half  of  the  able-bodied  white, 
male  pyopulation  in  Florida  of  military  age  was  in  the  Confederate 
army.    A  year  later,  four-fifths.     See  Robertson,  Soldiers  of  Florida. 


222  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

disastrous  not  only  in  the  immediate  loss  which  it  brought 
but  in  the  consequent  demoralization  in  labor  which  it 
caused.  "  It  is  of  the  last  importance,"  wrote  General 
Ward  from  Florida  to  the  Confederate  secretary  of  war, 

that  the  crops  now  planted  should  not  be  disturbed  nor  the 
negroes  withdrawn.  Money  is  the  sinews  of  war.  If  the 
plantations  belonging  to  our  Gulf  coast  are  ravaged,  to  avoid 
the  plunder  of  the  negroes  (not  to  speak  of  insurrection)  the 
capacity  of  the  county  to  contribute  to  the  war  is  at  an  end. 
If  the  corn  crop  should  fail,  a  large  mass  of  starving  popula- 
tion will  be  thrown  back  upon  the  higher  country,  itself  a 
buyer  of  the  Northwest  that  refuses  to  sell  its  food.^ 

The  slave  population  of  Florida  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  was  approximately  60,000.  Of  this  number  fully 
40,000  were  in  the  seven  great  planting  counties  of  Middle 
Florida.^  According  to  the  war-time  memoranda  of  Gover- 
nor Milton  there  were  16,000  slaves  in  "  East  and  South 
Florida"  and  8,000  in  "West  Florida".  In  the  large 
planting  counties  were  segregated  not  only  the  majority  of 
the  slaves  but  the  greater  part  of  all  real  and  personal  prop- 
erty, except  cattle,  "  in  which  the  East  and  the  South  ex- 
ceed ",  stated  Gk)vernor  Milton,' 

Florida  was  greatly  exposed  to  invasion.  Its  1,500  miles 
of  seacoast,  its  navigable  and  unprotected  rivers,  its  sparse 
population,  its  small  home  guard,  all  invited  invasion.  The 
presence  of  Federal  troops  in  East  Florida  during  1862,  re- 
sulting in  the  destruction  of  property  and  the  loss  of  slaves, 

^Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  467;  letter  of  May  10,  1861. 

*  U.  S.  Census,  i860.  The  exact  number  given  is  61,745,  of  whom 
5,253  are  denominated  "  mulattoes."  Gov.  Milton's  papers  indicate  that 
the  census  estimate  is  too  large. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  53,  pp.  260-261 ;  Milton  to  Davis,  October 
10,  1862 


THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  WAR  223 

was  followed  by  the  passage  of  resolutions  in  the  state 
legislature  praying  that  the  Confederate  Conscript  Law  be 
suspended  in  Florida  till  March  15  th,  1863,  and  that  those 
who  volunteered  for  Confederate  service  before  March 
15th  be  required  to  serve  within  the  state/  White  men  were 
needed  at  home  not  only  to  act  as  guards  and  to  work  in 
the  fields,  but  to  direct  the  work  of  the  slave,  and  to  with- 
draw the  black  population  from  before  invading  armies. 
"  The  safety  of  the  Confederacy  depends  on  the  exemption 
of  overseers  for  two  reasons,"  declared  Governor  Milton. 
"  I.  because  without  them  the  slaves  will  not  labor  in  a 
manner  to  secure  subsistence  for  the  armies  in  the  field.  2. 
because  if  left  without  control  of  overseers  the  result  will 
be  insubordination  and  insurrection."  ^ 

At  the  December  session  of  the  legislature,  1862,  author- 
ity was  conferred  upon  the  governor  to  impress  slaves  for 
military  work  if  so  authorized  by  the  Confederate  govern- 
ment. Just  compensation  for  the  labor  performed  was  to 
be  made  to  owners  of  the  slaves  impressed.  From  time  to 
time  slaves  were  impressed  to  labor  on  fortifications  at  dif- 
ferent points  in  the  state.*  The  Confederate  congress  pro- 
vided by  law  in  February,  1864,  for  the  impressment  by 
states  of  20,000  slaves  for  menial  service  in  the  Confederate 
army.  Florida's  quota  was  fixed  by  the  war  department  at 
500.*  In  December,  1864,  orders  were  issued  for  the  im- 
pressment to  begin.  Owners  of  slaves  were  required  to  fur- 
nish "  one  good  suit  "  of  clothes  for  each  of  their  slaves  im- 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  12th  Session,  1862.    Resolution  no.  20. 

*  Milton  to  Davis,  Feb.  17,  1863.  See  also  letter  of  May  23,  1863 ; 
and  Davis  to  Milton,  Sept.  i,  1863;  and  Milton  to  Florida  delegation 
in  Congress  (C.  S.),  Mar.  23,  1863 — Milton  Papers,  MSS. 

'  Laws  of  Florida,  12th  Session,  1862,  chapter  1378. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  iv,  v.  3,  p.  933;  Confederate  War  Department, 
Bureau  of  Conscription,  Richmond,  Va.     Circular  no.  36,  Dec.  12,  1864. 


224  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

pressed.  In  each  congressional  district  of  each  state  a 
board  appointed  by  the  secretary  of  war  regulated  impress- 
ments. The  wages  to  be  paid  these  slaves  in  Confederate 
service  were  not  to  exceed  $25  per  month.  The  Florida 
legislature  enacted  a  law  to  enable  the  governor  to  carry  out 
this  order  of  the  Confederate  government.  According  to 
this  state  law  impressments  were  to  be  made  by  the  sheriffs 
"  pro  rata  "  in  the  name  of  the  governor.^ 

Beyond  thus  enacting  law  for  stricter  patroling  and  for 
the  regulation  and  apportionment  of  slave  labor  in  the  army, 
the  Florida  legislature  found  itself  singularly  free  of  the 
negro  question  during  the  war.  Nor  were  the  courts  bur- 
dened with  new  theories  or  with  more  than  the  normal 
amount  of  litigation  involving  slaves  or  slavery.^  But  the 
negro  was  not  eliminated  from  public  attention.  The 
stupidest  man  realized  the  essential  point  in  the  great  social 
issue  of  the  war.  Owners  shifted  their  slaves  from  place 
to  place  to  prevent  capture,  the  military  patrolled  threat- 
ened districts  to  intercept  runaway  slaves  and  to  prevent 
insurrection,  and  black  regiments  of  ex-slaves  invaded  the 
state. 

The  Federal  government  reports  1,044  Florida  negroes 
enrolled  as  soldiers  in  the  Union  army  during  the  war.* 
This  was  about  one-tenth  of  the  adult  negro  male  popula- 
tion of  military  age.*  Most  of  the  recruits  were  from  East 
Florida.  General  Asboth,  the  American-Hungarian  com- 
mander in  Pensacola,  West  Florida,  began  to  organize  sev- 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  Dec.  7,  1864. 

*  The  available  court  records  show  practically  no  change  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  law  on  the  slavery  question.  The  escape  or  capture  of 
negro  slaves  occasionally  upset  contracts.  See  case  of  Russ  vs.  Mit- 
chell, Fla.  Rpts.,  V.  II,  pp.  80-91. 

*  0/f.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  iii,  v.  4,  pp.  1269-72,  regiments  of  infantry. 

*  Slave  population  of  Florida  in  i860  was  slightly  in  excess  of  60,000. 


THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  WAR  225 

eral  companies  of  negro  troops  for  his  "  Corps  d'Afrique  " 
in  the  autumn  of  1862/ 

The  negro  as  a  soldier  within  the  state  was  confined  ex- 
clusively to  the  Northern  side.  However,  the  Confederate 
congress,  the  Confederate  war  department,  and  military  and 
civil  leaders  in  Florida  and  out  of  Florida  discussed  the  ad- 
visability of  using  the  black  as  a  soldier.  Most  Southern 
whites  who  expressed  opinions  declared  the  slave  to  be  unfit 
for  the  career  of  a  soldier.  Fighting  was  the  white  man's 
part,  they  said;  acting  as  a  camp  follower,  teamster,  or 
laborer  on  fortifications  was  the  only  right  sphere  for  the 
black  in  the  Southern  army.  The  work  of  a  soldier  with  its 
responsibilities  belonged  to  the  superior  race.^  The  recent 
dictum  of  Jack  London  that  "  no  man  can  fall  lower  than 
a  soldier  "  '  would  not  have  been  subscribed  to  by  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  Confederate  armies. 

General  Howell  Cobb,  who  commanded  in  Central  Flor- 
ida, set  forth  a  point  of  view  common  to  many  Southerners 
when  he  said : 

>  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  26,  pt.  i,  pp.  818,  834  (Nov.  23,  1862)  ; 
N.  Y.  Herald,  Dec.  7,  1863;  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  iii,  v.  3,  p.  925.  On 
Oct.  26,  1863,  Adj.-Gen.  Lorenzo  Thomas  wrote  Col.  K  D.  Townsend: 
"  I  have  directed  Brig-Gen.  Asboth,  recently  assigned  to  command  in 
western  Florida,  to  gather  in  the  negroes  and  organize  them." 

»  See  Report  J.  A.  Seddon,  C.  S.  sec'y  war,  Oif.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  iv, 
V.  3»  P-  756;  also  opinion  of  Jeff.  Davis,  p.  790,  and  Southern  corres- 
pondence throughout  Off.  Reds.  Also  Jones,  A  Rebel  War  Clerk's 
Diary,  v.  2,  pp.  21,  24,  44,  413-14,  containing  references  to  policy  of 
C.  S.  Congress  on  question  of  negro  troops.  Sen.  Brown  of  Miss.,  in 
Feb.  1865,  introduced  a  resolution  for  raising  200,000  negro  troops  for 
the  Confederate  army — the  negroes  to  have  their  freedom  for  fighting. 
It  was  voted  down,  but  on  Mar.  8th  the  Senate  passed  the  negro-troops 
bill.  See  Moore,  Rebell  Red.,  v.  8,  pp.  135,  199,  433-434 — protest  to 
North  against  arming  the  blacks. 

^  Chieago.  Daily  Soeialist,  Mar.  31,  191 1,  from  London's  pamphlet 
issued  in  California  condemning  the  army. 


226  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

I  think  that  the  proposition  to  make  soldiers  of  our  slaves  is 
the  most  pernicious  idea  that  has  been  suggested  since  the 
war  began.  .  .  .  You  cannot  make  soldiers  of  slaves  or  slaves 
of  soldiers.  The  moment  you  resort  to  negro  soldiers  your 
white  soldiers  will  be  lost  to  you,  and  one  secret  of  the  favor 
with  which  the  prof>osition  is  received  in  portions  of  the  army 
is  the  hope  when  negroes  go  into  the  army  they  (the  whites) 
will  be  permitted  to  retire.  It  is  simply  a  proposition  to  fight 
the  balance  of  the  war  with  negro  troops.  You  can't  keep 
white  and  black  troops  together  and  you  can't  trust  negroes  by 
themselves.  .  .  .  Use  all  the  negroes  you  can  get  for  all  pur- 
poses for  which  you  need  them,  but  don't  arm  them.  The  day 
you  make  soldiers  of  them  is  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the 
Revolution.  If  slaves  make  good  soldiers  our  whole  theory 
of  slavery  is  wrong.  ^ 

General  Patten  Anderson,  of  Florida,  declared  that  the 
proposal  to  arm  the  slaves  was  "  a  monstrous  proposition, 
revolting  to  Southern  sentiment.  Southern  pride,  and 
Southern  honor  ".^  General  Beauregard,  commanding  the 
department  of  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  and  Florida,  be- 
lieved that  the  arming  of  the  negroes  would  lead  inevitably 
to  the  "  atrocious  consequences  which  have  ever  resulted 
from  the  employment  of  a  merciless  servile  race  as  sol- 
diers ".« 

But  the  pressure  for  troops  in  the  Confederate  armies  by 
the  end  of  1864  was  awful.    The  South  was  being  bled  of 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  3,  p.  1009 — Cobb  to  Seddon,  Jan.  8,  1865. 
Some  Southern  leaders  disagreed  radically  with  the  popular  view.  Gen. 
J.  E.  Johnston  was  petitioned  by  several  Confederate  military  officers 
in  Jan.  1864  to  arm  the  blacks.  Their  spokesman  was  gallant  Gen.  Pat 
Cleburne.  "  Will  the  slaves  fight  ?"  wrote  Cleburne.  ".  .  .  The  experi- 
ence of  this  war  has  been,  so  far,  that  half-trained  negroes  have  fought 
as  bravely  as  many  half-trained  Yankees." 

'  Ibid.,  s.  i,  AT.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  598. 

•  Ibid.,  s.  i,  v.  28,  pt.  2,  p.  13 — Beauregard  to  Gillmore,  July  4,  1863. 


THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  WAR 


227 


its  able-bodied  whites.  The  shambles  of  each  new  battle- 
field lent  intensity  to  the  frantic  call  for  more  men.  "  Con- 
gress and  the  state  legislatures  have  put  in  service  all 
white  men  between  the  ages  of  16  and  60  years,"  wrote 
Sam.  Clayton,  of  Georgia,  in  January,  1865. 

We  can't  get  them  from  the  Old  World  or  from  any  other 
country.  We  are  thrown  upon  our  own  resources.  The  re- 
cruits should  come  from  our  negroes,  nowhere  else.  We 
should  away  with  pride  of  opinion,  away  with  false  pride,  and 
promptly  take  hold  of  all  the  means  God  has  placed  within 
our  reach  to  help  us  through  this  struggle — a  bloody  war  for 
the  right  of  self-government.  Some  people  say  negroes  will 
not  fight.  I  say  they  will  fight.  They  fought  at  Ocean  Pond 
(Olustee,  Fla.),  Honey  Hill,  and  other  places.  The  enemy 
fights  us  with  negroes,  and  they  will  do  very  well  to  fight  the 
Yankees.* 

The  foregoing  was  the  other  point  of  view  fairly  stated,  in 
accord  with  which  the  Confederacy  was  surely  moving 
when  its  end  came.  The  Confederate  congress  authorized  on 
March  3rd,  1865,  the  raising  of  300,000  blacks  as  soldiers.* 
On  April  the  28th,  the  major-general  commanding  in  Flor- 
ida directed  ten  prominent  citizens  of  Florida  each  "  to  pro- 

^  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  iv,  v.  3,  pp.  loio-ii.  Judah  P.  Benjamin  stated 
at  this  time :  "  It  appears  to  me  enough  to  say  that  the  negroes  will 
certainly  be  made  to  fight  us  if  not  armed  for  our  defense.  ...  I  fur- 
ther agree  -with  you  that  if  they  are  to  fight  for  our  freedom,  they  are 
entitled  to  their  own.  Public  opinion  is  fast  ripening  on  the  subject." 
Jeflf.  Davis  in  a  letter  to  John  Forsythe  in  Feb.,  1865 :  "  It  is  now  be- 
coming daily  more  evident  to  all  reflecting  persons  that  we  are  re- 
duced to  choosing  whether  the  negroes  shall  fight  for  us  or  against  us,, 
and  that  all  arguments  as  to  the  positive  advantage  or  disadvantage 
of  employing  them  are  beside  the  question,  which  is  simply  one  of 
relative  advantage  between  having  their  fighting  element  in  our  ranks 
or  in  those  of  the  enemy"  (p.  mo).  See  also  his  message  to  Con- 
gress, Mar.  15,  1865. 

'Ibid.,  s.  iii,  v.  5,  pp.  711-12. 


228  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

ceed  at  once  to  raise  a  company  of  negroes  to  be  mustered 
into  the  service  of  the  Confederate  States  for  the  War  ".^ 
But  Lee  and  Johnston  had  already  surrendered.  The  disso- 
lution of  the  Confederacy  defeated  this  last  desperate  meas- 
ure to  recruit  the  decimated  ranks  of  the  Southern  army. 

The  black  recruit  was  sought  in  Florida  assiduously  for 
the  Union  army  after  the  first  year  of  the  war.  In  the 
spring  and  again  in  the  autumn  of  1862,  Jacksonville  was 
occupied  and  abandoned  by  Federal  troops.^  When  the  Fed- 
eral forces  quit  the  town  in  the  autumn  they  carried  some 
negroes  away  with  them.'  Invasion  of  East  Florida  by 
negro  troops  under  Colonel  Higginson  quickly  followed. 
"The  object  of  this  expedition,"  reported  General  Saxton, 
Higginson's  chief,  "  was  to  occupy  Jacksonville  and  make 
it  the  base  of  operations  for  arming  the  negroes  and  secur- 
ing in  this  way  possession  of  the  entire  State  of  Florida  "  * 
— in  other  words,  inciting  servile  insurrection.  The  Federal 
army  failed  to  obtain  many  black  recruits,  but  Higginson 
concluded  that  black  troops  "  were  the  key  to  the  successful 
prosecution  of  the  war  for  the  Union  "."^ 

The  slaveholders  of  East  Florida  drew  away  into  the  in- 
terior before  these  negro-hunting  raids.  Confederate  light 
cavalry  patrolled  the  plantations.  The  invaders  not  only 
carried  away  slave  property  but  they  left  behind  seeds  of  a 
possible  servile  insurrection.    "  When  it  shall  be  ascertained 

^Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  iv,  v.  3,  p.  1194.  The  notices  to  enlist  negro 
troops  were  sent  to  the  following  Floridians :  O.  F.  Jones,  E.  H. 
Bryan,  M.  Yonge,  J.  J.  Jilks,  B.  F.  Davis,  G.  V/.  Kennedy,  W.  S.  Du- 
pont,  S.  Parkhill,  J.  Linton,  H.  A.  Ramsey. 

2  Cf.  supra,  chap.  7. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  14,  p.  633 — Finegan  to  Cooper,  Oct.  9, 
1862.    N.  Y.  Herald,  Oct.  19,  1862. 

*  Saxton  to  Stanton,  Mar.  14,  1863 ;  Moore,  Rebell.  Reds.,  v.  6,  p.  444. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  14,  p.  198. 


THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  WAR  229 

satisfactorily  by  the  slaves  that  the  blacks  are  in  actual  war- 
fare for  their  liberties,  sustained  by  bodies  of  white  men," 
wrote  Governor  Milton  in  August,  1862,  "  is  there  not  much 
reason  to  apprehend  that  insurrections  and  massacres  will 
occur  where  they  have  a  great  excess  of  population  over  the 
white  population  ?  "  ^  It  was  this  possibility  that  haunted 
the  slaveholder  who  lived  in  the  region  threatened  with  in- 
vasion.^ Colonel  Brevard,  of  the  Confederate  anny  before 
Jacksonville,  sent  Captain  Chambers  in  April,  1862,  into 
Putnam  county  to  ferret  out  the  revelations  of  the  negro 
Toby  at  "  Econiah  Scrub  ".  He  was  to  arrest  all  concerned 
in  the  reported  "  conspiracy  "  but  was  admonished  to  act 
"  cooly  ".*  Here  and  there  negro  renegades  in  touch  with 
the  enemy  were  caught  and  hung  by  the  patrolling  cavalry.* 
On  October  30th,  1862,  Captain  Dickison,  a  locally-re- 
nowned leader  of  light  cavalry  in  East  Florida,  was  ordered 
by  the  Confederate  military  authorities  to  remove  into  the 
interior  all  negro  slaves  apparently  without  owners  and  all 
free  negroes.*^  When  a  black  negro-hunting  army  invaded 
East  Florida  during  1862,  General  Finegan,  Confederate 
commander  in  East  Florida,  realized  the  situation  and  re- 
ported that 

the  object  is  to  hold  the  town  of  Jacksonville  and  to  advance 
up  the  St.  Johns  and  establish  another  position  higher  up  the 
river,  whence  they  may  entice  away  the  slaves.  That  the  en- 
tire negro  population  of  East  Florida  will  be  lost  and  the 

1  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  ZZ7 — Milton's  Letter,  Aug.  5, 
1862. 

*  Scores  of  references  to  this  dread  in  the  hundreds  of  letters,  orders, 
and  reports  scattered  throughout  the  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.  See,  for  in- 
stance, s.  i,  V.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  373;  V.  S3,  pp.  258,  261;  V.  I,  p.  467;  s.  iv, 
V.  2,  pp.  56-58,  838 — particularly  letter  of  Davis,  Nov.  26,  1862,  p.  211. 

*Ihid.,  s.  i,  V.  14,  p.  863.  ^Ibid.,  s.  i,  v.  53,  p.  233. 

^  Ihid.,  s.  i,  V.  14,  p.  661. 


230 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


country  ruined  there  cannot  be  a  doubt  unless  the  means  of 
holding  the  St.  Johns  are  immediately  supplied.  .  .  .  The  en- 
tire planting  interests  of  East  Florida  lie  within  easy  connec- 
tion of  the  river ;  .  .  .  intercourse  will  immediately  commence 
between  negroes  on  the  plantation  and  those  in  the  enemy's 
service;  .  .  .  and  this  intercourse  will  be  conducted  through 
swamps  and  under  cover  of  night,  and  cannot  be  prevented. 
A  few  weeks  will  suffice  to  corrupt  the  entire  slave  population 
of  East  Florida.^ 

The  first  black  troops  used  in  Florida  were  the  First  and 
Second  South  Carolina  Volunteers — regiments  organized 
at  Beaufort,  South  Carolina,  in  response  to  orders  issued  by 
General  David  Hunter  in  May,  1862.^  The  recruits  came 
from  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Florida.^  Colonel 
Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson  commanded  the  First  Regi- 
ment, and  Colonel  James  Montgomery,  the  Second. 
"  There  appeared  in  various  New  York  newspapers  early 
in  1863,"  wrote  Higginson,  many  years  afterwards, 

a  report  that  there  was  in  Florida  a  "  great  volcano  about 
bursting  whose  lava  will  burn  and  destroy,"  and  this  was  fur- 
ther defined  as  being  the  sudden  appearance  in  arms  of  5,000 
negroes,  a  "  liberating  host,  not  the  phantom  but  the  reality 
of  a  servile  insurrection."  The  fact  which  lay  behind  these 
preposterous  exaggerations  was  simply  an  expedition  up  the 
St.  Johns  River  of  two  black  regiments  under  my  command.* 

These  two  negro  regiments  from  South  Carolina,  led  by 
Higginson  and  Montgomery,  were  sent  by  General  Hunter 

1  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  14,  p.  226. 

'  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  14,  p.  I.  See  article  by  Higginson  in  Freedmen's 
Record,  Aug.  1865.  Higginson  shows  that  the  ist  S.  C.  was  the  first 
black  regiment  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United  States,  Nov.  7, 
1862.    One  company  of  this  regiment  was  organized  in  May,  1862. 

*  Higgrinson,  Army  Life  in  a  Black  Regiment,  passim. 

*  Civil  War  Papers,  v.  2,  p.  467. 


THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  WAR 


231 


to  occupy  Jacksonville;  ...  to  carry  the  Proclamation  of 
Freedom  to  the  enslaved ;  to  call  all  loyal  men  into  the  service 
of  the  United  States ;  to  occupy  as  much  of  the  State  of  Florida 
as  possible ;  and  to  neglect  no  means  consistent  with  the  usages 
of  civilized  warfare  to  weaken,  harass,  and  annoy  those  who 
are  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States.^ 

As  the  expedition  was  primarily  a  recruiting  expedition 
a  double  supply  of  arms  and  ammunition  was  carried.  News 
of  the  arrival  of  these  black  troops  spread  with  sinister 
rapidity  over  East  Florida.  A  "  loyal  white  woman  "  re- 
ported to  Higginson  that  1,600  negroes  were  in  the  woods 
about  Jacksonville  awaiting  a  chance  to  enter  Federal 
lines. ^  General  Joseph  Finegan,  Confederate  commander 
in  East  Florida,  reported  4,000  blacks  in  Jacksonville  with 
one  company  of  white  troops.'  These  reports  were  gross 
exaggerations.  Slave  owners  and  the  Confederate  military 
were  making  desperate  efforts  to  keep  the  blacks  at  home, 
and  were  succeeding.  General  Saxton,  in  notifying  the  Fed- 
eral war  department  of  this  occupation  of  Jacksonville 
(March,  1863),  declared  that  "large  bodies  of  able-bodied 
negroes  in  Florida  were  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  join 
the  Federal  forces." 

"  The  negroes  of  Florida,"  he  affirmed, 

are  far  more  intelligent  than  any  I  have  yet  seen,  and  fully 
understand  their  position  and  the  intention  of  the  Government 
toward  them.  They  will  fight  with  as  much  desperation  as 
any  people  in  the  World.  I  have  many  of  these  Florida  men 
in  the  First  South  Carolina  Regiment  and  no  one  who  knows 
anything  about  the  regiment  now  doubts  its  efficiency.  ...  I 
feel  great  hopes  that  we  shall  strike  a  heavy  blow  in  Florida. 
There  is  at  present  a  great  scarcity  of  muskets  in  this  Depart- 

^  Civil  War  Papers,  v.  2,  p.  468.  *  Ibid.,  p.  471. 

'  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  14,  p.  226. 


232 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


ment.  If  this  want  is  supplied,  it  is  my  opinion  that  the  entire 
State  of  Florida  can  be  rescued  from  the  enemy  and  an  asylum 
established  for  persons  from  other  States  who  are  freed  from 
bondage  by  the  Proclamation.^ 

Six  months  before  this,  Governor  Milton  had  expressed 
very  emphatically  his  opinion  of  the  Federal  policy  toward 
Florida,  viz.,  to  make  of  the  state  "  a  waste,  a  howling 
wilderness,  or  to  colonize  it  with  negroes."  ^ 

After  the  occupation  of  Jacksonville  detachments  of  the 
First  and  Second  South  Carolina  Volunteers  proceeded  up 
the  St.  Johns  river  as  far  as  Palatka,  collecting  negro  re- 
cruits, stealing,  and  plundering.  A  Federal  gunboat  with 
supplies  and  reserve  troops  accompanied  the  raiders.  The 
plantation  homes  of  Messrs.  Baza,  Dupont,  Sanchez,  Dancy, 
Mays,  Ballings,  Simkins,  Cole,  and  others  were  plundered 
by  the  marauders.  Poultry  was  appropriated.  Hogs,  horses, 
and  beeves  were  stolen  or  slaughtered;  smoke-houses  and 
corn-cribs,  stripped;  feasts  eaten  in  spacious  dining-rooms 
by  the  one-time  slaves.  Household  furniture  broken  up. 
Trunks  and  chests  were  rifled.  Women  were  insulted  and 
abused.  The  torch  was  applied  to  out-houses  and  barns. 
At  the  Du  Pont  place  the  soldiers  threatened  to  burn  the 
family  home  if  the  hiding  place  of  the  family  slaves  was 
not  revealed.^  Federal  tax  commissioners  and  treasury 
agents  seeking  property  to  confiscate  *  accompanied  expe- 
ditions and  exercised  a  restraining  influence  on  the  destruc- 
tive proclivities  of  the  raiders.  At  Palatka  the  Federal 
force  was  ambushed  by  Dickison's  cavalry,  and  with  some 

1  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  14,  p.  423— letter  of  Mar.  6,  1863. 

*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  S3,  p.  258— Milton  to  Seddon,  Oct.  5,  1862. 

*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  14,  pp.  232,  238-9,  860-61. 

*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  35,  pt.  I,  pp.  388-89 — for  an  instance,  Report  Gen.  Bir- 
ney,  May  6,  1864.    Disposition  of  schooners  taken  at  Smyrna. 


THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  WAR 


233 


loss  in  killed  and  wounded — among  the  latter  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Liberty  Billings  of  the  First  South  Carolina — it  re- 
embarked  on  the  gunboat  for  Jacksonville.  When  that 
town  was  evacuated,  March  31st,  1863,  houses  were  burned 
and  plundering  was  indulged  in  by  both  black  and  white 
troops/ 

Negro  soldiers  operated  as  raiders  with  numerous  expe- 
ditions in  East  Florida  from  1863  until  the  end  of  the  war.' 
In  West  Florida  they  aided  white  troops  in  sacking  the  vil- 
lages of  Eucheanna  and  Marianna.^  At  Tampa  they  obeyed 
the  orders  of  white  leaders  in  shooting  defenseless  people.* 
Negro  troops  traversed  the  country  adjacent  to  Cedar  Keys, 
St.  Andrews  bay,  and  Pensacola,  destroying  and  stealing.^ 
They  fought  in  the  skirmishes  of  Marianna  and  Natural 
Bridge  and  played  a  prominent  part  in  the  battle  of  Olustee. 

It  seemed  to  be  the  settled  policy  of  the  Federal  govern- 
ment to  use  black  troops  in  Florida.     A  dozen  different 

'  Cf.  supra,  chap.  7. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  397,  435.  In  May,  1864,  Capt. 
Dickison  defeated  a  small  raiding  expedition  on  the  St.  John's,  v.  35, 
pt.  2,  p.  363.  See  also  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  32,  37  (Sept.  28,  1864,  in  Volusia 
Co.),  38  (Oct.  4,  1864,  in  Volusia  Co.;  Oct.  24,  1864,  west  of  Magno- 
lia), 393-98  (along  St.  John  river.  May  19-24,  1864),  401-3  (near  Jack- 
sonville, June  2-3,  1864),  etc. 

^  Ibid.,  pp.  443-445 — Sept,  18  to  Oct.  4,  1864  (82nd  U.  S.  Colored 
Infy.)  ;  Brevard  and  Bennett,  History  of  Florida,  pp.  168-170. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  389-391  (2nd  U.  S.  Colored 
Infy.  and  2nd  Fla.  Cavalry).  Several  citizens  "arrested  at  the  hotel." 
Some  tried  to  escape ;  i  shot  dead  and  2  wounded. 

'  Raiding  by  negroes  in  West  Florida  (Florida  west  of  the  Apalachi- 
cola  river)  occurred  during  the  last  year  of  the  war.  In  July,  1864, 
black  raiders  came  into  Washington  County  from  St.  Andrews  Bay, 
taking  horses,  mules,  cattle,  corn,  meat,  and  slaves.  See  letter  of  Col. 
Montgomery  (C.  S.  A.)  to  Capt.  Call,  July  24,  1864,  from  Marianna; 
also  letter  of  Gov.  Milton  to  Gen.  Jackson,  Aug,  7,  1864 — Milton 
Papers;  and  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  405-408,  413-419. 


234  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

negro  regiments  recruited  in  various  parts  of  the  Union  saw 
service  in  Florida  before  the  end  of  the  war/ 

Some  Northern  military  men  were  enthusiastic  over  the 
soldierly  qualities  of  the  negro.  Colonel  Beard  of  the  48th 
New  York  Infantry,  who  commanded  negro  troops  in  Flor- 
ida, reported  that  the  "  colored  men  fought  with  astonish- 
ing bravery  and  coolness  ".'  General  Saxton,  in  referring  to 
Florida,  declared  that  "  negroes  fought  with  coolness  and 
bravery,  fighting  as  if  to  vindicate  manhood  and  did  it 
well  ". 

"  The  blacks  are  better  than  white  soldiers  in  this  part  of 
the  country,"  he  said.' 

Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson,  who  gained  notoriety  by 
leading  negro  soldiers  in  Florida,  stated  that  "  nobody 
knows  about  blacks  who  has  not  seen  them  in  battle.  Their 
fiery  courage  is  above  anything  I  have  ever  seen  or  read — 
except  French  Zouaves."  *  A  Northern  war-correspondent 
present  at  Fort  Meyers,  South  Florida,  when  it  was  at- 
tacked by  Confederate  cavalry  stated  that  "  the  colored  sol- 
diers were  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight  and  could  hardly  be 
restrained;  they  seemed  totally  unconcerned  of  danger  and 
the  constant  cry  was  '  to  get  at  them  '."  ° 

The  actual  efficiency  of  black  troops  was  far  under  these 
enthusiastic  estimates.  The  blacks  usually  gave  way  under 
determined  attack.     They  were  swept  oflf  the  field  at  Olus- 

*  The  following  were  the  negro  regiments,  all  infantry :  3rd,  7th,  8th, 
34th,  82nd,  102nd  U.  S.  Colored  Troops;  the  ist,  2nd  and  3rd  S.  C. 
Volunteers ;  the  ist  N.  C.  Volunteers ;  the  S4th  and  55th  Mass.  Colored 
Infantry.     See  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  passim. 

'Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  14,  p.  191. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  189. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  195.  See  also  Higginson,  Army  Life  in  a  Black  Regiment, 
passim. 

^N.  Y.  Times,  March  18,  1865. 


THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  WAR  235 

tee,  Jacksonville,  Palatka,  and  Natural  Bridge.  Their 
most  valuable  services  to  the  Union  were  as  guide,  spy,^  and 
plunderer.  Their  presence  in  Florida  as  soldiers  caused 
terror  to  the  unprotected  white  families  and  hurt  sentiment 
for  the  Union.  Southerners  were  nerved  to  greater  effort 
because  they  realized  that  a  servile  race  was  being  employed 
to  subdue  them.  "It  is  my  belief,"  declared  General  Saxton, 
"  that  scarcely  an  incident  in  this  war  has  caused  greater 
panic  throughout  the  whole  South  coast  than  this  raid  of 
colored  troops  in  Florida."  ^ 

The  black  soldier  did  not  prove  to  be  any  more  barbarous 
than  the  white.  President  Lincoln  encouraged  the  use  of 
negro  soldiers  in  Florida.  "  I  am  glad  to  see  the  accounts 
of  your  colored  force  at  Jacksonville,  Florida,"  he  wrote 
privately  to  General  Hunter.  "  I  see  the  enemy  are  driving 
at  them  fiercely,  as  is  to  be  expected.  It  is  important  to  the 
enemy  that  such  a  force  shall  not  take  shape  and  grow  and 
thrive  in  the  South,  and  in  precisely  the  same  proportion  it 
is  important  to  us  that  it  shall."  ^ 

Within  Federal  lines  the  negro  furnished  the  newcomer 
from  the  North  opportunity  for  charitable  experimentation. 
Military  leaders  wanted  the  able-bodied  men,  but  were  bur- 
dened and  worried  by  the  women,  children,  and  infirm.  By 
the  beginning  of  1864  the  Freedman's  Aid  Society  had  with 
the  help  of  the  Federal  military  established  common  schools 
for  negro  children  at  St.  Augustine,  Fernandina,  and  Jack- 
sonville.*    The  Rev.  Dr.  Barrows  was  superintendent  of 

*  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  4,  pp.  57,  229,  283,  293.  N.  Y.  Herald,  Mar. 
18,  20,  1862;  N.  Y.  Times,  Mar.  15,  1862;  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Mar.  24,  1862. 

'  Moore,  Rebell.  Red,,  v.  6,  p.  444. 

'  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lineoln,  Complete  Wks.,  v.  2,  p.  321 — letter  of 
Apr.  I,  1863. 

*  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Aug.  17,  1864.  N.  Y.  Times,  Jan.  23,  1864.  Schools 
were  established  in  Fernandina  in  Dec,  1862 — Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v. 
6,  p.  61. 


236  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

these  schools  which  were  taught  by  a  half-dozen  women 
from  the  North.  In  Jacksonville  the  Odd  Fellows  hall  was 
seized  by  the  United  States  provost  marshal  and  turned 
over  to  the  Rev.  Barrows  for  a  school  building.  There  a 
school  was  opened  for  blacks  and  whites.  It  is  reported 
that  when  the  white  children  of  the  town  remonstrated 
against  attending  school  in  company  with  blacks,  Mrs. 
Hawks,  the  lady  principal,  said,  "  Very  well,  the  colored 
children  will  be  educated  even  if  you  are  not." 

"  This  argument,"  continues  the  account,  "  proved  ef- 
fective, and  the  two  classes  are  pursuing  studies  harmon- 
iously." ^  Thus  was  a  first  step  taken  in  the  social  revo- 
lution. 

Only  about  one  hundred  pupils  (black  and  white)  were 
enrolled  in  the  Jacksonville  school.  This  war-time  experi- 
ment in  education  in  East  Florida  did  not  prove  successful, 
partly  because  small-pox  became  epidemic  among  the  few 
negroes  available  for  scholars.  By  the  end  of  1864  the 
negro  schools  of  East  Florida,  established  under  the  bay- 
onets of  an  army  of  occupation,  were  closed.^ 

But  education  did  not  cease  for  the  black  with  the  clos- 
ing of  the  schools.  Federal  military  camps  were  the  places 
where  the  negroes  received  their  first  instruction  in  popular 
ideals  from  the  North,  in  "  loyalty  "  to  the  Union,  and  in 
"  politics  ".  The  ex-slave  took  part  in  patriotic  demon- 
strations.    The  promulgation  of  the  Emancipation  Procla- 

^  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Apr.  i,  1864.  See  also  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  6,  p. 
61,  quotation  from  letter  from  Fernandina,  Fla.,  published  in  Wisconsin 
State  Journal:  "  The  progress  made  by  the  pupils  more  than  equals 
the  expectation  of  the  most  sanguine  friends  of  the  race.  The  children 
(blacks)  have  evinced  an  aptitude  to  learn  fully  equal  to  the  children 
of  the  North,  and  in  all  the  better  characteristics  they  are  in  no  way 
behind  us,"  etc. 

'N.  Y.  Tribune,  Aug.  17,  1864. 


THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  WAR  237 

mation  was  the  occasion  of  a  "  negro  celebration  "  at  Key 
West.  250  blacks  with  waving  flags  and  military  music 
paraded  the  streets  and  went  for  dinner  to  the  "  Barra- 
coons  ".  The  procession  was  stoned  by  whites  and  the  flag 
taken  from  the  leader  and  the  flag  staff  broken  over  his 
head.' 

The  anniversaries  of  the  proclamation  (1864-65)  were 
again  the  occasion  for  negro  parades  in  Jacksonville,  Key 
West,  and  St.  Augustine.^  The  Federal  military  co-oper- 
ated. At  St.  Augustine,  in  1864,  the  regimental  bands  of 
the  24th  Massachusetts  and  loth  Connecticut  united  in  ren- 
dering national  airs — marching  about  town  followed  by  a 
mob  of  elated  negroes — men,  women,  and  children.  At  the 
"  picnic  grounds "  Lincoln's  Emancipation  Proclamation 
was  read.  Federal  Tax-Commissioner  Stickney  and  offi- 
cers of  the  Federal  military  in  garrison  spoke  to  the  assem- 
bled crowd  on  patriotism  and  citizenship.  Stickney  was  at 
the  time  engaged  in  swindling  his  government  and  his 
friends.*  Negro  school  children  sang  "  Thrice  Happy 
Days  "  and  Whittier's  "  Negro  Boatman's  Song  ".* 

To  the  one-time  slave  inured  to  the  simple  and  monot- 
onous life  of  the  plantation,  this  marching  and  counter- 
marching to  sweet  music;  this  flash  of  color,  waving  of 
flags,  and  donning  of  soldier  suits  with  brass  buttons;  this 
deep  interest  expressed  by  his  white  friends  in  his  mental 
well-being,  which,  in  fact,  he  little  understood;  this  feast- 
ing, this  resting,  and  this  singing — all  combined  to  produce 
mental  exhilaration  which  spelled  demoralization  for  the 
old  regime  of  work.     He  was  moving  too  fast  toward  re- 

*  N.  Y.  Herald,  Feb.  11,  1863 — letter  from  Key  West  correspondent. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  Jan.  23,  1864,  ami  Jan.  15,  1865.    N.  Y.  Tribune,  Jan. 
23,  1864. 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  38  C,  2  S.,  no.  18 — papers  of  Fla.  Tax  Commissioners. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  Jan.  23,  1864;  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Jan.  23,  1864. 


238  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

generation.  Once  within  the  Federal  lines  he  seldom  re- 
turned as  slave  to  his  former  haunts.  For  him  the  old 
regime  was  at  an  end.  "  Thank  Gawd,"  he  said,  "  Der 
juberlee  have  come.    Glory  be  to  Jesus  and  Marse  Linkum." 

The  legal  status  of  the  negro  in  Florida  during  the  first 
eighteen  months  of  war  perplexed  the  few  conscientious 
and  careful  Federal  commanders  stationed  there. ^  The 
first  Federal  Confiscation  Act,  August  6th,  1861,  made  it  the 
duty  of  the  President  to  confiscate  all  property  used  in  "  aid- 
ing, abetting  or  promoting  "  the  war  against  the  Union.^ 
Slaves  were  considered  contraband  of  war  when  employed 
in  any  military  or  naval  service  against  the  Union,  and 
were  accordingly  forfeited.  Where  the  negro  was  owned 
by  a  "  loyal  "  white  and  had  not  been  used  to  oppose  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  he  was  clearly  a  slave  of 
unchanged  position  in  the  law  of  the  United  States;  but 
where  the  owner  was  known  to  be  or  suspected  of  being 
"  disloyal  "  to  the  Union,  then  to  some  the  black's  position 
seemed  in  doubt.  What  was  the  condition,  in  law,  of  fugi- 
tive slaves,  and  what  of  slaves  belonging  to  the  "  disloyal  " 
and  not  used  in  "  aiding,  abetting,"  etc.,  the  "  insurrection  " 
against  the  Union  ? 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Bell,  for  example,  wrote  from  St.  Au- 
gustine on  April  5th,  1862,  to  department  headquarters  ask- 
ing for  definite  instructions  regarding  the  status  of  slaves  of 
the  disloyal.  "  I  have  retained  such  slaves,  furnishing  them 
with  food  and  compelling  them  to  work,  and  simply  exclud- 

*  Both  the  Federal  army  and  navy  had  taken  away  negro  slaves  be- 
fore the  summer  of  1862 — claiming  the  act  under  the  Federal  Confisca- 
tion Act  of  Aug.  6,  1861.  For  instances,  see  the  case  of  Stellwagen 
at  Apalachicola  in  April,  1862 — Retell.  Red.,  v.  4,  p.  76;  N.  Y.  Herald, 
Apr.  21,  1862;  raid  on  St.  Andrews  bay— Off.  Red.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  53, 
p.  230 — Apr.  7,  1862. 

*  U.  S.  Stats,  at  Large,  v.  12,  p.  319. 


THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  WAR 


239 


ing  other  slaves  from  the  fort".^  Department  headquarters 
seemed  as  much  at  sea  on  this  question  as  the  commanders 
asking  for  instruction.  At  some  points  in  Florida  slaves 
were  kept,  fed,  clothed,  and  presumably  made  to  work  by 
the  Federal  military,  "In  other  cases,"  said  General  Saxton, 
"  slaves  reputed  to  belong  to  rebel  masters  have  been  em- 
ployed at  high  rates,  whose  wages  were  paid  to  agents  of 
those  masters  (among  these  cases  are  the  slaves  of  ex-Sen- 
ator Mallory)."  =^ 

General  Hunter  attempted  logically  to  simplify  the  situa- 
tion by  issuing  an  order  on  May  9th,  1862,  which  declared 
that  as  "slavery  and  martial  law  are  incompatible,"  therefore 
within  the  department  of  the  South,  which  he  commanded 
(Georgia,  South  Carolina,  and  Florida),  all  persons  held 
as  slaves  were  free.^  President  Lincoln  read  in  the  public 
press,  one  week  after  its  promulgation,  the  astounding  con- 
clusion reached  by  Hunter  in  South  Carolina.*  Forthwith 
the  President  firmly  revoked  the  general's  order,  May  19th, 
1862,'  and  the  condition  of  slaves  in  Florida  was  for  the 
time  as  anomalous  as  ever,  beyond  the  patent  fact  that  they 
were  not  legally  free  men. 

On  July  17th,  1862,  the  second  Federal  Confiscation  Act 
was  enacted,  which  very  definitely  settled  the  status  of  the 
slaves  of  the  "  disloyal  "  when  those  slaves  came  within 
Federal  lines.'  They  were  to  be  deemed  "  captives  of  war  " 
and  "  forever  free  of  their  servitude  ".  The  slave  was  de- 
clared free  in  this  case  as  a  penalty  for  the  master's  par- 
ticipation in  the  "  rebellion  ".' 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  14,  p.  333.  2  7^,-^^  p.  375. 
'Ibid.,  p.  341.     Ge-i.  Order  no.  11. 

*  Rhodes,  J.  F.,  Hist,  of  U.  S.,  v.  4,  p.  65. 

'  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  Complete  Wks.,  v.  2,  pp.  155-56,  205-6. 

*  Statutes  at  Large,  v.  12,  pp.  590-592. 

^  Dunning,  Essays  on  the  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction,  p.  36. 


240  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Five  days  later,  July  22nd,  the  President  ordered  the  Fed- 
eral military  commanders  to  employ  at  wages  as  many 
negroes  as  they  should  see  fit/  Blacks  belonging  to  the 
"  loyal  "  were  slaves.  Blacks  belonging  to  the  "  disloyal  " 
were  "  free  captives  of  war  "  when  within  Federal  lines. 

These  various  statutes  and  orders  respecting  slaves  did 
not  very  immediately  affect  the  mass  of  Florida's  black 
population  because  so  small  a  portion  of  it  was  within  Fed- 
eral lines;  but  at  Key  West  a  troublesome  situation  de- 
veloped. Here  a  number  of  white  men  loyal  to  the  Union 
held  slaves.  Colonel  Morgan,  of  the  48th  New  York  In- 
fantry, who  succeeded  Colonel  Brannan  as  commandant  at 
Key  West,  was  hostile  to  slavery  and  slaveholders.  Lin- 
coln's revocation  of  Hunter's  emancipation  order  did  not 
deter  the  Key  West  commandant  from  attempting  abolition 
locally. 

It  was  supposed  that  Morgan's  mouthpiece  at  Key  West 
was  the  New  Era,  an  abolition  journal  whose  editor  was 
spoken  of  as  "  Morgan's  Man  Friday  "."  On  August  9th, 
an  editorial  in  this  journal  declared  that  "  slavery  cannot 
exist  here  and  does  not  at  this  moment ;  there  is  not  a  negro 
lawfully  held  to  service  in  Key  West  ".  Three  weeks  later, 
August  30th,  a  leading  editorial  stated  that  "  An  uprising  of 
slaves  would  not  be  permitted,  but  a  slave  can  declare  him- 
self free,  refuse  to  work,  and  still  be  protected  by  martial 
law ;  for  it  does  not  recognize  slavery  any  more  than  it  does 
secession.  ,  .  .  The  master  cannot  punish  a  slave  without 
committing  an  offense  against  martial  law  ".' 

Already  the  few  hundred  negro  slaves  in  Key  West,  in- 
spired probably  by  the  military,  were  "  sassy  "  and  insub- 

'  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  Complete  Wks.,  v.  2,  p.  212. 
•  N.  Y.  Herald,  Oct.  26,  1862. 
8  Ibid. 


THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  WAR 


241 


ordinate  to  their  "loyal"  owners/  The  New  Era  was  in  sub- 
stantial accord  with  instructions  given  Colonel  Morgan,  of 
Key  West,  by  his  superior,  General  Terry,  on  August  14th. 
These  instructions — a  sort  of  code  of  Federal  procedure 
toward  slavery — declared  that  no  aid  would  be  given  by  the 
military  to  any  master  to  compel  his  slave  to  obey  him ;  that 
masters  found  guilty  by  the  military  of  cruel  treatment  of 
slaves  would  be  duly  punished ;  that  slaves  of  the  "disloyal" 
would  be  protected  by  the  military  from  any  control  by 
agents  of  their  former  masters;  and  that  violence  publicly 
offered  by  one  person  to  another  for  the  enforcement  of 
obedience  or  labor  would  be  punished  by  the  military.^ 

There  was  no  advance  in  principle  from  these  instruc- 
tions to  the  revolutionary  order  of  Colonel  Morgan,  issued 
September  5th.  "  A  necessity  having  occurred,"  he  an- 
nounced on  that  day, 

by  the  prevailing  epidemic  for  the  emplo3nTient  of  persons  of 
African  descent,  including  those  held  to  service  or  labor  under 
state  laws  in  the  various  parts  of  this  command,  the  Provost 
Marshal  is  authorized  to  employ  such  persons  seeking  employ- 
ment and  send  them  to  the  headquarters  of  the  quartermaster ; 
and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  quartermaster  to  cause  accurate 
lists  to  be  made  sufficient  in  detail  to  show  from  whom  such 
persons  shall  have  come.  Persons  so  subject  and  so  employed 
have  always  understood  that  after  being  received  into  the  mili- 
tary service  of  the  United  States  in  any  capacity  they  could 
not  be  reclaimed  by  their  former  owners.  .  .  .  The  Colonel 
commanding,  therefore,  from  precedents  already  established, 
feels  authorized  to  declare  that  all  persons  so  employed  as 

^  N.  Y.  Herald,  Oct.  5,  1862— letter  from  Key  West,  Sept.  29:  "Ne- 
groes in  Key  West,  with  all  mistaken  notions  of  freedom,  refuse  to 
work  except  at  exorbitant  wages,"  etc. 

•"Terry's  Code,"  N.  Y.  Times.  Oct.  4,  1862— dated  "Key  West, 
Aug.  14." 


242 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


above  shall  receive  permanent  military  protection  against  any 
compulsory  return  to  a  condition  of  servitude.  .  .  ,  No  force 
or  undue  persuasion  will  be  permitted  to  be  used  to  recover 
such  fugitive  property.^ 

Thus  by  subterfuge  were  the  slaves  of  Key  West  prac- 
tically emancipated  more  than  two  weeks  before  Lincoln 
issued  his  preliminary  Emancipation  Proclamation.^  With 
the  beginning  of  1863  the  legal  aspect  of  the  negro  ques- 
tion in  Florida  was  much  simplified  for  Federal  military 
commanders  because  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  within 
the  "  rebellious  states  "  became  by  executive  proclamation 
the  supreme  law  of  the  Union,  certainly  so  long  as  the  war 
lasted. 

^N.  Y.  Herald,  Oct.  26,  1862. 

'  For  a  defense  of  Col.  Morgan's  action  at  Key  West,  see  A'^.  Y.  Sun- 
day Mercury,  Nov.  2,  1862.  Union  sentiment  at  Key  West  discussed  in 
N.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  7,  1862,  in  letter  of  Chaplain  Bass  of  90th  N.  Y. — 
Oct.  20,  1862.     See  also  editorial,  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Mar.  30,  1863. 


CHAPTER  X 

Internal  Opposition  to  the  Confederacy:  Unionists 
AND  Deserters 

The  term,  "  Union  man  ",  was  applied  rather  indiscrimi- 
nately during  the  Civil  War  to  those  men  who  were  known 
to  have  consciously  aided,  abetted,  or  furthered  in  some 
fashion  by  word  or  deed  the  cause  of  the  Union  in  its  con- 
flict with  the  Confederacy.  From  a  Confederate  sympa- 
thizer the  term  was  generally  an  unfavorable  epithet,  asso- 
ciated with  the  darkest  side  of  war,  with  cowardice,  traitor- 
ous action,  raiding,  and  plundering.  Yet  some  eminently 
good  and  honored  men  in  Florida  sympathized  with  the 
Union,  such  men,  for  instance,  as  ex-Governor  Call,  of 
Tallahassee,  and  Judge  Marvin,  of  Key  West.  Their  char- 
acters, however,  did  not  materially  affect  public  opinion. 
"  On  our  burning  homesteads  ye  may  write,  '  we  found  no 
Union  Man  V'  wrote  some  long-since  forgotten  Southerner 
of  those  times,^  and  he  gave  but  an  inkling  of  the  passionate 
resentment  of  the  Southern  secessionists  toward  neighbors 
who  aided  and  abetted  the  enemy. 

With  the  enlightened  Unionists,  the  "  Union  man  "  was 
more  or  less  a  hero  who  suffered  loss  and  bore  persecution 
for  the  Union's  sake — or  even  better,  for  high  principle's 
sake.  One  confused  rhymester,  raised  to  a  high  pitch  of  en- 
thusiastic perplexity  by  the  terrible  events  of  the  hour, 
began  his  poem: 

*  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  7,  p.  59. 

243 


244  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

" '  O  Mother !'  exclaimed  a  bright  boy  as  he  ran, 
'  Our  God  whom  we  serve  is  a  Union  Man, 
And  the  Union  can  never  cease.' 
'  My  patriot  Boy !     Why,  why  think  you  so  ? 
The  Rebels  all  boast  that  Jehovah  doth  know 
Their  cause  is  the  right  and  the  true,* "  etc., 

which  way  of  looking  at  the  matter  calls  up  an  aspiring 
Southern  ode  which  in  all  Byronic  seriousness  began, 
"  Rebels !  'Tis  a  holy  name  ".' 

Any  attempt  to  estimate  the  number  and  influence  of 
Union  sympathizers  in  Florida  is  apt  to  prove  difficult  and 
to  yield  meagre  results  in  exact  figures  or  conclusive  state- 
ments. In  the  aggregate,  their  number  was  never  propor- 
tionally large,  but  their  influence  in  parts  of  Florida  was 
considerable  enough  to  merit  some  attention  in  an  account 
of  the  war. 

The  class  included  several  varieties,  but  sub-classification 
cannot  go  very  far  and  must  depend  upon  opinions  held. 
Knowledge  of  opinion  is  in  reality  difficult  to  obtain,  and 
opinions  themselves  shift  continually  with  those  inevitable 
changes  that  take  place  in  objective  conditions.  Union  men 
may  be  grouped  in  two  broad  classes :  first,  men  of  Northern 
and  foreign  birth  lately  come  to  Florida;  second,  poor 
native  southern- whites  who  deserted  from  the  Confederate 
army  or  who  sought  to  avoid  conscription. 

The  Northern-born  men  were  in  most  cases  holders  of 
considerable  property  or  were  large  traders  for  their  com- 
munities— usually  seaport  towns.  They  were  merchants, 
lumbermen,  real-estate  dealers,  small  bankers,  physicians, 
and  even  planters.  Many  had  come  into  Florida  since  1850. 
Their  traditions  were  anti-slavery.  Their  more  distant 
home  ties  were  still  strongly  Northern.  They  were  section- 
alized  on  the  slavery  question  before  they  reached  Florida. 

'  Moore,  Rehell.  Red.,  v.  5,  p.  36.  *  Ibid.,  v.  4,  p.  4. 


INTERNAL  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  CONFEDERACY    245 

All  Northern-bom  people  within  the  state  in  i860  numbered 
but  1,908.^  They  came  principally  from  New  York,  Con- 
necticut, Maine,  Massachusetts,  and  Pennsylvania — 688  of 
the  number  hailing  from  New  York  and  908  from  the  New 
England  states.  Some  Northern-born  citizens  proved 
staunch  and  valiant  upholders  of  the  Confederacy,^  but 
probably  a  majority  of  the  "  Yankees  "  in  Florida  were  out- 
and-out  Union  sympathizers.  There  were  3,309  persons  of 
foreign  birth  in  Florida,  according  to  the  census  of  i860. 
A  large  number  of  them  were  Germans.  The  foreign-born 
population  divided  on  the  questions  of  secession  and  slavery. 
From  these  figures  it  is  seen  that,  at  most,  the  relative  num- 
ber of  non-Southern  Unionists  among  Florida's  75,000 
free  inhabitants  could  not  be  large. 

In  regard  to  Southern  white  Unionists,  the  secession 
crisis  showed  the  existence  of  such  a  class.  This  crisis,  with 
its  complex  abstractions  on  constitutional  questions,  its 
bitterness  in  practical  politics,  its  economic  appeal  to  the 
slave-holder  and  Southern  debtor,  its  demand  for  ready 
obedience  and  unusual  sacrifice  to  the  state,  appealed 
differently  to  different  classes.  The  fairly  enlightened 
Southern  planter  and  merchant  possessed  a  comfortable 
home,  broad  acres,  some  slaves  to  do  his  manual  work, 
and  usually  a  positive  role  in  local  politics.  The  illiterate 
back-woodsman — "  kasion  ",  "  cracker  ",  "  poor  white  " 
or  "  red-neck "  of  to-day — almost  cut  off  from  the 
mass  of  his  fellow  men,  knowing  little  about  the  subtler 
issues  of  the  war,  caring  little  for  "  civic "  obedience 
or  "  national  patriotism  ",  and  interested  not  one  whit  in 

*  Census  of  i860. 

'  As  for  instance  Brig.-Gen.  Wm.  Miller,  a  native  of  Mass.,  who  led 
the  Confederates  in  the  desperate  defense  of  Tallahassee,  1865.  Oif. 
Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  49,  pt.  i,  passim. 


246  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

the  purely  economic  question  of  preserving  slavery,  could 
see  little  for  him  in  the  war.  His  family  was  dependent  im- 
mediately on  his  crude  muscular  effort  for  a  meagre  living 
at  best,  and  the  muscular  effort  was  as  meagre  as  the  living. 
The  margin  of  supplies  ahead  with  such  a  family  was  small. 
The  failure  of  a  five-acre  crop,  the  death  of  a  few  cows,  the 
burning  of  a  barn,  meant  their  temporary  ruin.  The  poor 
white  of  the  South  was  often  disloyal  to  the  Southern  re- 
public, because  economic  and  class  conditions  left  his  family 
destitute  an^l  isolated  when  the  "men  folks"  were  in  the 
army.  The  wonder  is  that  the  vast  majority  of  the  poor 
whites  supported  the  war,  with  heroic  firmness,  to  the  bitter 
end.  Barbarous  raiding  by  Northern  armies  brought  the 
war  home  to  them.  A  small  minority  of  the  poor  whites 
proved  to  be  Unionists  or  deserters.  The  size  of  this  class 
hostile  to  the  Confederacy  increased  decidedly  toward  the 
end  of  the  war.  Florida  furnished  about  1,300  white  re- 
cruits to  the  Northern  armies.^  Some  of  them  were  North- 
ern-born and  foreign-born.  The  enforcement  of  the  Con- 
script Act  in  Florida  furnished  the  Confederate  army  2,362 
men.^  A  large  number  of  these  "  conscripts  "  were  passive 
Union  sympathizers. 

In  1 86 1,  probably  not  more  than  4,000  men  and  women 
in  Florida  were  Union  sympathizers.  By  1865,  the  number 
had  doubled.  The  proportion,  therefore,  of  Unionists 
among  the  approximately  75,000  white  inhabitants  varied 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  iii,  v.  4,  p.  1269.  The  actual  number  is  put  at 
1,290  three-year  volunteers.  1,044  black  recruits  came  from  Florida. 
Alabama,  with  more  than  three  times  the  population,  furnished  to  the 
Union  army  2,576  whites  and  4,969  blacks. 

2  Ibid.,  s.  iii,  v.  5,  p.  701.  This  conclusion  is  based  on  a  report  by  the 
Chi.  of  Confed.  Confis.  Bu.,  Feb.,  1865.  His  report  covers  from  the 
date  of  enactment  of  Conscript  Law,  Apr.  16,  1862,  to  Feb.,  1865. 
Only  362  of  the  number  came  from  "  conscript  camps." 


INTERNAL  OPPOSITION  TO  JHE  CONFEDERACY    247 

between  5  per  cent  and  10  per  cent — made-up  of  Northern- 
born,  foreign-born  and  native  Southerners.^ 

Practically  all  parts  of  the  state  were  at  first  dominated 
by  the  secessionists.  Only  as  Federal  military  lines  were 
extended  to  include  restricted  sections  along  the  coast  did 
the  Unionists  assert  themselves,  and  such  assertion  was  as  a 
rule  very  feeble.  The  history  of  Key  West  furnishes  an 
exception  to  this  general  condition.  For  the  first  few 
months  after  secession  the  town  was  divided  between  the 
secessionists  and  the  Unionists.^  When  Florida  left  the 
Union  all  Federal  civil  officials  at  Key  West,  except  District 
Judge  Marvin  and  the  collector  of  customs,  resigned  their 
offices.^  For  several  weeks  the  judge  had  no  marshal  to 
execute  his  orders,  and  in  some  instances  he  was  prevented 
from  deciding  salvage  cases.*  Key  West  is  built  on  an 
island,  then  remote  from  the  settled  mainland  of  Florida 
and  watched  over  by  Federal  regulars  and  gunboats. 

The  secession  cause  in  Key  West  was  voiced  by  an  ag- 
gressive journal  entitled  Key  of  the  Gulf.  It  savagely  at- 
tacked Judge  Marvin  and  other  Unionists.  Marvin's 
friends  in  his  defense  claimed  that  the  attacks  were  inspired 
by  certain  business  men  engaged  in  the  "  wrecking  and  sal- 
vage "  business.  The  decisions  of  Marvin  as  admiralty 
judge  were  distasteful  to  them,  and  therefore  they  wished 
to  get  rid  of  him."    Early  in  May,  1861,  Mr.  McQueen  Mc- 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  iv,  v.  3,  pp.  iioi,  1109;  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  2,  pp.  12, 
63,  215;  V.  2,  pt.  I,  p.  817.  N.  Y.  Times,  Apr.  2,  1862;  Jan.  23,  1864; 
Mar.  18,  1865.  N.  Y.  Herald,  May  20,  1864;  Mar.  25,  1865.  Milton 
Papers,  1863-4 — letters  of  Milton  to  Mallory  and  Beauregard. 

»  See  N.  Y.  Herald,  June  6,  1861 ;  N.  Y.  Times,  Feb.  28,  1862 ;  N.  Y. 
Tribune,  Nov.  7,  1862,  etc. 

*  U.  S.  Off.  Directory,  1861 ;  N.  Y.  Times,  Mar.  13,  1862. 

*  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  12,  1861. 
*N.  Y.  Times,  Mar.  13,  1861. 


248  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Intosh  arrived  at  Key  West  as  the  new  appointee  of  the 
state  of  Florida  to  the  bench  occupied  by  Marvin.  The 
claimant  had  been  a  prominent  member  of  the  secession 
convention.  With  him  came  a  district  attorney.  Mcintosh 
demanded  of  Marvin  the  surrender  of  all  records  and  papers 
pertaining  to  the  office  of  district  judge.  Marvin  refused 
to  comply.  Popular  opinion  of  the  whites  in  Key  West 
might  have  been  with  Mcintosh,  but  Federal  guns  were  back 
of  Marvin,  and  therefore  the  state  appointee,  seeing  that  in- 
sistance  was  useless,  left  for  the  mainland.^ 

During  the  spring  of  1861  two  military  companies  were 
organized  among  the  Union  sympathizers  of  Key  West,  for 
"  upholding  the  laws  of  the  United  States ".  Major 
French,  the  Federal  commander,  issued  orders  that  no  civil 
or  military  official  of  the  state  of  Florida  or  of  the 
Confederate  government,  was  to  be  recognized  or  obeyed.^ 
On  authority  from  President  Lincoln,*  he  put  the  town 
under  martial  law,  suspended  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and 
suppressed  by  force  the  journal  Key  of  the  Gulf.  A 
Methodist  preacher-militant  invoked  Heaven  against  the 
Federal  government,  and  was  promptly  arrested  by  order  of 
Major  French.*  "  Key  West  has  a  thoroughly  Union-lov- 
ing population,  largely  owing  to  Major  French's  exer- 
tions," stated  the  local  correspondent  of  the  New  York 

» N.  Y.  Herald,  May  24,  1861 ;  N.  Y.  Times,  Mar.  13,  1862 ;  N.  Y. 
Sunday  Mercury,  Nov.  2,  1862.  Marvin  held  his  office  till  the  summer 
of  1863,  when  he  voluntarily  resigned.    N.  Y.  Herald,  July  21,  1863. 

»  N.  Y.  Herald,  May  18,  24,  1861 ;  N.  Y.  Times,  Mar.  13,  1862. 

•  OfF.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  iii,  v.  i,  pp.  184-5,  Proclam.  of  Lincoln,  May 
10,  1861,  allowing  suspension  of  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  Key  West. 

*  N.  Y.  Herald,  July  7,  i86i(  ?)  (Townsend  Library,  Columbia  Univ.). 
See  also  Marvin's  charge  to  the  grand  jury  at  Key  West  for  a  discus- 
sion of  what  was  treason.    A^.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  26,  1861. 


INTERNAL  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  CONFEDERACY    249 

Herald}  Eight  months  later  we  hear  of  "  a  deep  and  abid- 
ing hatred  of  the  Federal  government  in  the  breasts  of  a 
large  portion  of  the  community."  ^ 

The  town  during  the  entire  war  was  without  the  sphere 
of  operation  of  Florida  laws — a  local  government  under 
military  jurisdiction.^  As  late  as  the  autumn  of  1862  a  dis- 
gruntled regimental  chaplain  in  Key  West  stated :  "  I  be- 
lieve that  three-quarters  of  the  people  here  would  at  least 
be  perfectly  reconciled  and  resigned  to  the  will  of  God 
would  it  please  Him  to  lay  the  whole  regiment,  yea,  every 
other  regiment,  in  the  dust."  *    He  no  doubt  told  the  truth. 

As  the  war  progressed,  the  manifestations  of  Union  sen- 
timent in  Florida  underwent  some  change.  The  enforce- 
ment of  the  Confederate  Sequestration  Act  after  Sep- 
tember 13th,  1861,  confiscating  the  property  of  alien  ene- 
mies,*^ forced  many  persons  in  Florida  to  go  on  record 
as  Southern  or  Northern  sympathizers.  Hundreds,  who 
found  themselves  in  embarrassing  positions,  hid  for  the 
time  not  only  record  of  any  property  North,  but  the  truth 
concerning   their   sympathies   as   well,    in   order   to   pro- 

1  N.  Y.  Herald,  June  6,  1861. 
» N.  Y.  Times,  Feb.  28,  1862. 

•  Local  civil  rule  was  restored  in  Key  West  by  order  of  the  Mil. 
Commander,  Dec.  29,  1862.  These  orders  directed  "  civil  officers,  legally 
elected  and  who  had  taken  the  oath  to  the  U.  S.,  to  resume  their  func- 
tions," in  conformity  with  the  constitution  of  the  U.  S.  and  the  order 
of  the  President  and  war  dept.  "Militaiy  authority  will  reserve  to  itself 
the  control  over  all  arrivals  and  departures  from  the  island  and  the 
sale  of  spirituous  liquors.  The  provost  marshal  will  take  charge  of  all 
property  in  Key  West  owned  by  persons  known  to  be  engaged  in  the 
Rebellion."    N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  10,  1863. 

*  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  7,  1862. 

^  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  iv,  v.  i,  pp.  586-92  (passed  Aug.  30,  1861), 
932-9  (amendment  Feb.  15,  1862).  McPherson,  Retell.,  p.  203  (order 
of  enforcement  of  Act  by  Atty.  Gen.  Benjamin,  Sept.  12,  1861). 


250  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

tect  their  property  South,  With  Federal  invasion  which 
began  in  1862,  came  the  enforcement  of  the  Federal  Con- 
fiscation Act/  The  property  of  those  who  had  taken  up 
arms  against  the  Union  was  seized.  Northern  civil  officials 
and  benevolent  speculators  came  with  the  armies  of  inva- 
sion.^ Such  individuals,  interested  in  the  moral  uplift  of 
the  negro  and  the  sale  of  abandoned  and  confiscated  prop- 
erty, slightly  augmented  the  ranks  of  the  nominal  Union 
men. 

In  East  Florida,  the  Unionists,  stimulated  by  the  presence 
of  a  friendly  army,  attempted  political  organization.  Their 
political  principles  were  set  forth  in  numerous  resolutions 
which  were  spread  abroad  in  Northern  newspapers,  thereby 
giving  an  exaggerated  and  formal  importance  in  the  eyes 
of  outsiders  (among  them  President  Lincoln  ^)  to  those  in 
Florida  who  opposed  the  Confederacy. 

The  first  political  demonstration  of  Union  men  in  Flor- 
ida followed  by  a  few  days  the  first  occupation  of  Jackson- 
ville by  Union  troops  in  the  spring  of  1862.  When  General 
Sherman  reached  that  town  he  was  at  once  waited  on  by 
Union  sympathizers.  They  represented  how  bright  the 
cause  of  the  Union  would  be  as  long  as  Federal  soldiers 
were  present  and  how  perilous  their  position  would  be  if 
troops  were  withdrawn.*  Only  a  few  days  before — ere  the 
invading  army  had  reached  Jacksonville — much  property 
had  been  burned  by  Confederate  troops  in  and  about  Jack- 
sonville ;  and  the  owners  seem  to  have  been  mostly  among 

*  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  v.  12  (Confiscation  Acts)  ;  McPherson, 
RehelL,  p.  208  (Pres.'s  Proclam.,  July  5,  1862,  under  Confisc.  Law). 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  Oct.  16,  1862,  the  appointment  of  -tax-commissioners 
for  Florida.  N.  Y.  Herald,  Feb.  13,  1863,  Gen.  Hunter  delayed  the 
forced  sale  of  property  in  Fla.  for  non-payment  of  direct  taxes. 

'  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  Complete  Wks.,  v.  2,  p.  470. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  Apr.  2,  1862. 


INTERNAL  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  CONFEDERACY 


251 


Union  sympathizers.^  The  day  after  the  first  interview 
with  General  Sherman  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  public 
square  of  Jacksonville.  About  100  Unionists  were  pres- 
ent.^ Resolutions  were  adopted  which  protested  against 
the  abrogation  of  United  States  authority  and  proclaimed 
the  ordinance  of  secession  "  null  and  void  "  because  it  had 
never  been  submitted  to  the  votes  of  the  people. 

"  We  protest  against  the  exactions  which  have  been  im- 
posed upon  us,"  ran  the  resolutions. 

forced  contributions  of  money,  property  and  labor,  and  en- 
listments for  military  service,  procured  by  threats  and  misrep- 
resentations. We  protest  against  the  tyranny  which  demands 
of  us  as  a  measure  of  revolutionary  policy  the  abandonment 
of  our  homes  and  property  and  the  exposure  of  our  wives 
and  children  to  sickness,  destitution,  gaunt  famine,  and  in- 
numerable and  untold  miseries  and  sorrows.  We  protest 
against  the  mad  and  barbarous  policy  which  has  punished  us 
for  remaining  in  our  homes  by  sending  a  brutal  and  unre- 
strained soldiery  to  pillage  and  burn  our  property  and  threaten 
and  destroy  our  lives.* 

The  man  who  drew  up  these  resolutions  was  Philip  Fraser, 
a  one-time  citizen  of  New  Jersey.  The  chairman  of  the 
meeting  was  C.  L,  Robinson,  who  had  come  into  Florida 
from  Vermont  in  1857.* 

The  foregoing  political  manifesto,  which  set  forth  with 
some  vividness  the  position  of  the  Union  man,  was  no  doubt 
issued  with  the  tacit  approval  of  General  Sherman,  al- 
though the  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Times,  in  Jack- 
sonville,  stated  that  there  was   "  no  sort  of   collusion  ". 

1  Cf.  supra,  chap.  7. 

2  N.  Y.  Times,  Apr.  2,  1862 ;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Mar.  20,  1862. 
■  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  4,  p.  325. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  Jan.  23,  1864. 


252  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Sherman  himself  admitted  that  "  the  real  object  in  occupy- 
ing Jacksonville  was  a  political  one  "/  On  the  morning  of 
the  mass  meeting  in  the  public  square  the  General  issued  a 
proclamation  to  the  "  People  in  Florida  "  calling  them  to 
loyal  political  reorganization.^ 

Four  days  later  (March  24th),  a  second  mass  meeting  of 
Unionists  in  Jacksonville  called  for  an  election  of  all  state 
officers  on  the  first  Monday  in  the  following  month,  April, 
1862/  A  few  score  men  within  the  straitened  limit  of 
Federal  lines  were  preparing  on  paper  to  reconstruct  Flor- 
ida.   Said  one  observer : 

At  Jacksonville,  then  in  Federal  possession,  a  half-dozen 
shrewd  heads  got  together  and  agreed  to  take  the  lead  in  a 
reactionary  movement.  Not  being  among  the  original  Jacobs 
of  secession,  their  standing  had  never  been  satisfactory.  They 
had  all  along  really  preferred  the  Union.  Now  Union  had 
won,  their  property  was  safe,  their  opportunity  was  safe  to 
make  a  ten-strike ;  and  the  political  power  of  the  State  and  the 
patronage  of  the  Government  were  prizes  worth  seizing  and 
working  for.* 

During  the  six  weeks  of  Federal  occupation  these  men 
in  the  protecting  shadow  of  the  Northern  army  remained 
pronounced  and  at  times  loud  advocates  of  the  Union. 
Then,  rather  unexpectedly,  Jacksonville  was  ordered  aban- 
doned. There  was  consternation  among  the  Union  men. 
They  had  accepted  Confederate  authority  to  save  their 
property  and  had  recanted  for  the  same  honest  reason  when 
the  Federal  expedition  arrived.  Flight  was  the  only  safe 
course  left  to  them.     They  could  expect  little  forbearance 

*  Letter  to  Phil.  Fraser,  N.  Y.  Ev.  Express,  July  23,  1862. 
'  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  2,  p.  301. 

'  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  11,  1862;  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  4,  p.  349. 
*N.  Y.  World,  Mar.  11,  1864  (Townsend  Library). 


INTERNAL  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  CONFEDERACY    253 

under  the  interpretation  of  Confederate  law  by  "  their  ex- 
asperated old  associates  ",  whom  they  had  repudiated.  So 
some  of  them  embarked  on  Federal  transports  with  what 
personal  property  they  could  carry  along. 

"  Thirty  or  forty  families  managed  to  escape,"  stated  a 
press  correspondent. 

None  of  these  had  more  than  ten  hours  in  which  to  make 
preparations  for  leaving  homes  they  had  occupied  for  years. 
It  was  sad  to  see  them  hurrying  down  to  the  wharf,  each 
carrying  some  article  too  precious  to  forsake.  Books,  boxes, 
valises,  portraits,  pictures,  packages  of  clothes,  pet  canaries 
and  mocking-birds  are  most  frequently  seen.  Stout-hearted 
and  stylish  officers  relieving  Dinahs  of  their  little  charges  and 
leading  two-,  three-,  and  four-year-olds  added  a  humane  and 
praiseworthy  ludicrousness  to  the  melancholy  scene. ^ 

Thus  the  first  essay  in  political  reorganization  by  Florida 
Unionists  ended  in  flight;  yet  the  withdrawal  of  troops 
from  Jacksonville  did  not  end  political  experimentation  in 
East  Florida  by  enemies  of  the  Confederacy.  In  the  spring 
of  1863,  there  was  a  feeble  repetition  of  the  same  farce, 
when  Jacksonville  was  a  second  time  occupied  and  aban- 
doned.'^  Colonel  Higginson  felt  the  "wrongfulness"  of  leav- 
ing these  people  "  to  the  mercy  of  the  Confederates  once 
more  ".  Again  Union  sympathizers  flocked  on  board  Union 
ships  and  "  at  once  developed,"  says  Higginson,  "  that  in- 
sane mania  for  aged  and  valueless  trumpery  which  always 
seizes  upon  the  human  race,  I  believe,  in  moments  of 
danger."  * 

'  Moore,  Rehell.  Red.,  v.  4,  p.  82.  These  people  seem  to  have  gone  to 
New  York  City.  See  report  in  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  22,  1862,  inscribed 
"Mayor's  Office,"  which  stated  that  50  loyalists  had  arrived  from  Fla. 
in  N.  Y.  City,  and  that  the  mayor  and  council  had  voted  them  $1,000.00. 

•  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  14,  p.  232.    Rpt.  Col.  Rust. 

'  Higginson,  Army  Life  in  a  Black  Regiment,  p.  173. 


254 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


Late  in  the  year  1863  several  Unionist  political  rallies 
took  place  in  St.  Augustine  and  Fernandina  under  the  guid- 
ing influence  of  the  Federal  military.^  The  cause  of  the 
Union  seemed  to  be  reviving.  Tax  commissioners  for  Flor- 
ida had  been  appointed  the  year  previous  by  the  Federal 
treasury  department/  and  a  Federal  district  court  for 
"  Northern  Florida "  was  about  to  begin  its  sessions  in 
January,  1864,  at  St.  Augustine.  The  judge  in  this  court 
had  come  lately  from  Pennsylvania;  the  district  attorney, 
from  New  York;  the  clerk,  from  Vermont;  and  the  mar- 
shal, from  Rhode  Island.^ 

Major  John  Hay  arrived  at  Jacksonville  in  February,  1864, 
with  the  Union  army  of  invasion.  He  came  as  the  personal 
representative  of  President  Lincoln  to  inaugurate  meas- 
ures for  loyal  political  reconstruction.*  Hay  failed  to  find 
men  enough  to  put  into  operation  the  administration's  pro- 
ject. In  fact,  the  few  Union  men  of  East  Florida  showed 
that  they  were  by  no  means  all  in  accord.  One  group  sent 
to  Lincoln  a  formal  condemnation  of  those  whom  Hay  had 
seen  fit  to  call  about  him  as  advisers. 

The  serious  disaster  at  Olustee  in  February,  1864,  forced 
the  Union  army  to  confine  itself  to  the  immediate  vicinities 
of  Jacksonville,  St.  Augustine  and  Fernandina.^  Politi- 
cians continued  to  be  active,  however.     A  Unionist  "  con- 

^  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  29,  1863 ;  resolutions  of  St.  Augustine  meeting. 
N.  Y.  Times,  Jan.  2,  Jan.  23,  1864.  N.  Y.  Tribune,  May  24  1864.  Col. 
Osborn  (U.  S.  A.),  at  St.  Augustine,  was  active  in  local  politics. 

*  A^.  Y.  Times,  Oct.  16,  1862. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  Jan.  23,  1864. 

*  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  Complete  Wks.,  v.  11,  p.  470;  Oif.  Reds. 
Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt  i,  p.  276. 

"  See  account  in  Florida  Union,  Dec.  31,  1864.  This  sheet  was  pub- 
lished by  nominal  Union  men,  Morrill  and  Stickney,  the  latter  a  Fed- 
eral tax  commissioner. 


INTERNAL  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  CONFEDERACY    255 

vention  "  was  held  in  Jacksonville  during  May,  1864,  with 
representations  from  four  or  five  eastern  counties/  This 
body  chose  delegates  for  the  Republican  national  conven- 
tion and  adopted  resolutions  which  closed  with  the  follow- 
ing sentiment :  "  On  the  eve  of  a  coming  election  and  in 
view  of  the  vast  difficulties  which  surround  the  Nation,  we 
feel  like  a  horse-trader  struggling  in  the  waters  of  the 
Mississippi — that  it  is  a  mighty  poor  time  to  swap  horses; 
5,  that  Abraham  Lincoln  is  the  choice  of  this  convention  for 
next  President  of  the  United  States."  ^  To  the  end  of  the 
war  Florida  Union  men  kept  up  the  pretense  of  being  both 
in  the  Union  and  engaged  in  reconstructing  their  state. 

With  their  ideas  of  political  reconstruction,  Eli  Thayer, 
a  New-England  abolitionist  who  had  already  won  local 
fame  in  Kansas,^  attempted  to  associate  his  own  peculiar 
theories  of  what  he  termed  "  economic  reconstruction ". 
He  was  a  vigorous  champion  of  free  labor.  He  promised 
recklessly  that  if  the  national  government  would  furnish 
funds  for  equipping,  arming,  and  transporting  to  Florida 
and  supporting  there,  for  one  year,  several  thousand  farm- 
ers, he  would  win  back  the  state  for  the  Union.  His  aim 
was  to  "  crowd  out  slavery  "  in  Florida  by  turning  into  that 
state  a  stream  of  free-soil  immigrants.  His  anny  of  farmer- 
soldiers  would  be  the  advance  guard  of  such  an  invasion. 
In  the  accomplishment  of  this  project  he  would  have  the 
Federal  Government  confiscate  all  property  of  Southern 
sympathizers,  appropriate  the  lands  of  the  state,  and  turn 

*  N.  Y.  Tribune,  May  26,  1864.  The  proclamation  calling  together 
this  convention  was  approved  by  Gen.  Gordon,  the  Fed.  commander  of 
the  District  of  Florida. 

'  N.  Y.  Herald,  June  3,  1864 ;  N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  6,  1864. 

*  See  Thayer,  History  of  the  Kansas  Crusade,  for  a  discussion  of  his 
colonizing  work  in  the  west. 


256  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

over  lands  and  other  property  to  the  white  and  black  colo- 
nists from  other  states. 

His  plan  actually  received  some  public  attention  in  the 
North,  probably  because  Thayer  was  already  well-known 
to  a  circle  of  prominent  men.  In  December,  1862,  a  dele- 
gation of  politicians  laid  the  scheme  before  Mr.  Lincoln.^ 
The  matter  was  discussed  in  cabinet  meeting,*  brought  up 
in  the  national  House  of  Representatives,  referred  to  a 
committee,  and  then  lost  sight  of.^  During  January  and 
February,  1863,  Thayer  and  his  friends  engineered  two 
public  meetings  in  New  York  City  for  the  conquest  of 
Florida.  It  was  a  strange  cause — this  proposed  crusade  to 
the  back  counties  of  Florida.  One  meeting  was  held  at  the 
Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  on  January  5th,  and  the  other,  at  the 
Cooper  Union,  February  6th.* 

In  the  Cooper  Union  meeting,  Wm.  Cullen  Bryant  pre- 
sented resolutions  which  declared  this  plan  to  be  "  the  most 
economic,  the  most  speedy,  the  most  certain  method  of  end- 
ing the  Rebellion,  and  of  restoring  National  prosperity  and 
repairing  the  damages  of  the  war  ".  The  conquest  of  Flor- 
ida was  to  be  followed  by  the  conquest  of  other  states. 
Thayer  claimed  that  thousands  of  men  were  ready  to  follow 
him  to  Florida  and  that  in  the  state  to  be  invaded  7,000 
negro  slaves  could  be  counted  on  as  recruits.  If  this  plan 
had  been  put  into  operation,  servile  war  would  have  re- 
sulted. Among  those  who  endorsed  the  project  and  par- 
ticipated prominently  in  the  meetings  were  several  Florida 
Union  men  in  exile.  Thayer's  proposals  furnished  the  New 
York  dailies  with  subject-matter  when  war  news  proved 

*  N.    Y.  Herald,   Dec.   18,   1862 — "  a   delegation  with   Vice-President 
Hamlin  at  its  head." 

*  Diary  of  Gideon  Welles,  v.  i,  p.  206,  Dec.  26,  1862. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  Jan.  13,  1863.    Rep.  Bingham  of  Ohio  was  interested. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  Jan.  25,  Feb.  7,  1863. 


INTERNAL  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  CONFEDERACY    257 

dull  or  the  winter  season  too  silly.  Florida  was  never  in- 
vaded by  armed  farmer  colonists/ 

To  suppress  positive  Union  sympathizers  and  to  keep 
faint-hearted  Southerners  in  line,  drastic  measures  were  em- 
ployed by  the  "  irregular  "  or  "  independent  "  companies 
of  Confederate  cavalry,  which  scoured  great  sections  of 
Florida.^  In  East  Florida  the  operations  of  such  bodies 
became  particularly  active  and  violent.  "  Union  people  of 
late  have  been  obliged  to  conceal  their  feelings,"  wrote  the 
Florida  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Times.  "  Their 
lives  and  property  have  been  threatened  by  bodies  of  armed 
guerillas  who  infest  this  part  of  Florida,  murdering  in- 
habitants and  destroying  property.  They  call  themselves 
regulators."  '  By  another  press  correspondent,  the  regu- 
lators were  termed  "  a  band  of  scoundrels  who  have  for 
weeks  threatened  the  lives  and  property  of  all  suspected  citi- 
zens and  who  have  succeeded  in  creating  a  reign  of  terror."* 

From  St.  Augustine  came  the  lurid  report  that  "  the  in- 
habitants are  not  privileged  to  go  out  because  of  bands  of 
guerillas  who  are  everywhere  organizing.  This  has  pro- 
duced a  reign  of  terror  in  the  neighborhood.  Guerillas  do 
not  hesitate  to  kill  those  who  differ  from  them."  *  In  West 
Florida,  General  Asboth,  the  Federal  commander  at  Fort 
Barrancas,  reported :  "In  Walton  county  seven  citizens  were 
hung  last  week  for  Union  sentiments,  and  one  woman,  re- 

'  For  references  to  Thayer's  Florida  scheme,  see  A^.  Y.  Tribune,  Oct. 
I,  1862 ;  Feb.  7,  9,  I9,  1863 ;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Feb.  10,  1863 ;  A^  Y.  World, 
Feb.  10,  1863 ;  N.  Y.  Ev.  Post,  Jan.  30,  1863 ;  N.  Y.  Times,  Feb.  7,  1863 ; 
Moore,  Retell.  Red.,  v.  6,  p.  44 ;  An.  Cyclo.,  1862-3. 

*  Gov.  Milton's  correspondence  in  Off.  Reds.  Retell,  and  in  Milton 
Papers  (MSS.). 

•  N.  Y.  Times,  Apr.  2,  1862. 
*N.  Y.  Tritune,  Mar.  24,  1862. 
»  N.  Y.  Herald,  Sept.  12,  1862. 


258  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

fusing  to  give  information,  was  killed  by  hounds."  ^  A 
Florida  guerilla  captain  stated  to  his  chief,  General  Floyd : 

I  am  now  a  Guerilla  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  We  neither 
tell  where  we  stay  or  where  we  are  going  or  when  we  shall 
return.  We  assemble  the  company  at  the  sound  of  a  cow's 
horn.  We  have  made  some  arrests,  both  black  and  white,  and 
hung  one  negro  belonging  to  Mr.  Mays  last  week.  We  have 
scouts  out.  We  have  three  men  spotted  that  ought  to  be  hung. 
Three-fourths  of  the  people  on  the  St.  Johns  River  are  aiding 
and  abetting  the  enemy.^ 

On  the  return  of  a  Federal  naval  raid  up  the  St.  Johns  river, 
in  the  autumn  of  1862,  a  Federal  officer  reported:  "Mr. 
Blood  (a  Union  man)  informed  me  that  his  life  was  threat- 
ened and  he  was  in  fear  momentarily  of  being  seized  and 
made  to  ornament  a  pine  three  for  his  well-known  Union 
views."  '  Allowing  for  evident  exaggeration  in  the  evi- 
dence, we  may  conclude  that  suspected  Unionists  were 
watched  and  often  severely  harried  by  guerilla  bands, 
which  were  usually  not  irresponsible  bodies,  but  nominally 
under  the  control  of  the  Confederate  authorities,  and  in 
some  cases  recognized  by  the  laws  of  Florida.* 

These  irregular  bodies  of  Southern  soldiery  sought  not 
only  the  passive  Union  sympathizers  whose  offense  was  gen- 
erally giving  information  and  comfort  to  the  enemy,^  but 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  2,  p.  63 — Asboth  to  Stone,  Apr.  22, 
1864. 

'  Ihid.,  V.  53,  p.  233 — letter  of  J.  W.  Pearson,  "  Oakland  Rangers," 
to  Gen.  Floyd. 
'  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  13,  p.  368. 

*  For  instance,  see  La-ws  of  Fla.,  nth  Sess.,  "Joint  resolution"  pro- 
viding for  organization  of  the  Amelia  Guerillas  Co.,  Dec.  31 ;  Moore, 
Rebell.  Red.,  v.  8,  p.  422,  Act.  Confed.  Cong,  authorizing  Partizan 
Rangers.    The  leaders  of  the  bands  reported  to  Confed.  officers. 

'  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  53,  p.  235. 


INTERNAL  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  CONFEDERACY    259 

they  sought  as  well  the  deserters  from  Confederate  ranks 
and  "  conscripts  ".  After  the  passage  of  the  Confederate 
Conscript  Act  in  April,  1862/  opposition  encountered  by 
Confederate  enrolling  officers  increased.^  Many  who  had 
not  yet  volunteered  preferred  to  "lay  out" — that  is,  secrete 
themselves  in  the  woods  near  their  homes  in  order  to  escape 
conscription.  The  controlling  motive  with  these  men  was 
hardly  love  for  the  Union.  They  seem  to  have  been  actu- 
ated by  a  strong  desire  to  avoid  service  in  the  army.  They 
wished  to  be  at  home  more  ardently  than  they  wished  to 
support  their  country  or  win  the  commendation  of  neigh- 
bors. They  lacked  patriotism.  They  were  usually  poor  and 
illiterate. 

By  the  beginning  of  the  third  year  of  war  (1864)  the 
deserters,  "  conscripts  "  and  "  Union  men  "  in  certain  sec- 
tions of  Florida — notably  Taylor  and  Lafayette  counties — 
regularly  organized  themselves  into  armed  bands.'  One 
such  band  drew  up  a  constitution  and  signed  it.  They 
called  themselves  "  The  Independent  Union  Rangers ". 
Among  the  provisions  of  the  constitution  were:  "True 
allegiance  to  the  United  States  " ;  absolute  obedience  to  the 
officers  of  th  e  company ;  absolute  secrecy  concerning  opera- 
tions; death  by  shooting  for  anyone  found  guilty  of  being  a 
spy ;  equal  distribution  by  officers  of  all  plunder  taken ;  and 
(strangest  of  all  among  deserters)  the  death  penalty  for 
any  member  who  deserted  the  band.* 

Deserter  bands  became  aggressively  hostile.     They  held 

^Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  iii,  v.  5,  pp.  693-4,  passed  Apr.  16. 

2  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  372. 

» These  two  counties  and  the  country  south  of  the  Withlacoochee 
river  were  the  sections  most  frequented  as  places  of  retreat  by  de- 
serters. See  accounts  in  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  30,  1864;  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
Sept.  6,  1864. 

*  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  53,  p.  319.  The  document,  signed  by  33 
members,  was  captured  by  Col.  Capers. 


26o  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

some  of  the  swamps,  kept  in  communication  with  Federal 
forces,  received  food  and  ammunition  from  Federal  camps 
and  blockading  vessels,  occasionally  raided  isolated  plan- 
tations, drove  off  and  slaughtered  cattle  and  hogs,  enticed 
negro  slaves  away  from  their  plantations,  put  arms  in  the 
hands  of  these  runaway  blacks — in  a  word  seriously  inter- 
fered with  the  peace  and  safety  of  many  communities/  At 
the  close  of  the  year  1863  Governor  Milton  represented 
West  Florida  as  being  in  a  "bad  condition"  for  "our  cause". 
"  The  disloyal,"  he  said,  "  were  in  touch  with  the  enemy." 
"  The  Sheriff  of  Washington  County  and  others  are  now 
in  the  service  of  the  enemy,"  *  and  he  stated  further  that 
a  "  large  proportion,  if  not  a  majority,  of  the  citizens  of 
West  Florida  are  represented  to  be  disloyal;  at  all  events 
advocate  reconstruction  and  have  threatened  to  raise  the 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  2,  pp.  5,  215,  368 ;  v.  28,  pt.  2,  pp. 
273;  V.  53,  pp.  309,  319-20,  337.  Gen.  Anderson  (C.  S.  A.)  reported: 
"In  March  last  (1864)  I  assumed  command  of  the  Dist.  of  Fla.  At 
that  time  there  was  considerable  alarm  felt  by  many  citizens  of  Middle 
Fla.  on  account  of  recent  depredations  of  bands  of  Deserters,  disloyal 
persons,  and  bandits  gathered  in  semi-organization  along  the  coast  in 
Taylor  and  Lafayette  Counties.  South  Fla.  was  infested  by  the  same 
kind  of  bands.  .  .  .  Several  planters  of  Jefferson  and  Madison  Coun- 
ties have  lost  a  number  of  slaves,"  etc. 

The  Confederate  sympathizers  of  Levy  Co.  assembled  in  meeting  and 
drew  up  a  formal  request  for  protection.  To  their  chairman,  Rev.  J. 
M.  Nichols,  Gen.  Anderson  wrote :  "  Hope  at  an  early  date  to  accede 
to  your  request  for  protection  ...  to  clear  your  locality  of  Yankees, 
deserters  and  outlaws,"  etc. 

The  Gov.  of  Ala.,  in  a  letter  to  Gen.  Cobb  at  Quincy,  Fla.,  referred 
to  "a  band  of  deserters  in  the  lower  part  of  Henry  Co.  (Ala.)  and  on 
the  Chipola  river,  Fla.  They  threaten  the  loyal  population.  I  have 
ordered  Capt.  Armstrong  with  a  command  to  make  arrests.  Six  or 
seven  men  liable  to  Confed.  service  [were  captured?],  but  recaptured 
by  friends  from  ambush,"  etc.  Col.  Hatch  (U.  S.  A.)  referred  in  Aug., 
1864,  to  "  500  Union  men,  deserters,  and  negroes  .  .  .  now  raiding 
toward  Gainsville,"  etc. 

*  Milton  to  Beauregard,  Jan.  29,  Feb.  4,  1864,  Milton  Papers. 


INTERNAL  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  CONFEDERACY    261 

United  States  flag,  even  in  Marianna."  ^  The  counties  of 
West  Florida  "  bordering  the  coast "  were  in  the  hands  of 
deserters.  "  A  short  time  ago,"  stated  the  governor  to  Sec- 
retary Mallory  in  May,  1864,  "  10,000  blankets  and  6,000 
pairs  of  shoes  intended  to  supply  troops  in  this  State  were 
captured."  *  The  deserters  and  conscripts  of  West  and 
Middle  Florida  even  planned  the  capture  of  the  governor 
himself.    He  was  warned  of  the  plot  in  time  by  telegraph.' 

Aroused  to  the  danger  of  this  insidious  form  of  invasion 
(for  Union  bushwhackers  acted  in  concert  with  the  Union 
soldiers  on  the  borders  of  the  state)  the  Confederacy  began 
a  systematic  and  often  merciless  campaign  against  de- 
serters and  conscripts — particularly  against  the  bands  in 
Taylor  and  Lafayette  Counties.  Bloodhounds  were  some- 
times used  to  track  them  in  the  dense  swamps  and  hum- 
mocks, where  they  took  refuge.  It  was  cruel  business,  but, 
as  Colonel  Capers  of  the  Confederate  army  observed  when 
he  took  charge  in  Middle  Florida,  "  the  only  practical  way 
of  hunting  deserters  will  be  with  dogs  under  experienced 
woodsmen."  * 

The  places  of  retreat  were  difficult  of  access  and  the  dis- 
loyal bands  shifted  their  camps  from  point  to  point.  The 
camps  were  often  destroyed  by  the  pursuing  military  and  a 
few  men  made  prisoners,  but  the  bands  were  never  com- 
pletely dispersed  during  the  war.  The  military  in  some 
cases  destroyed  their  homes  and  sent  the  women  and  chil- 
dren either  into  Federal  lines  or  to  refugee  camps  within 
Confederate  lines.''     This  was  more  barbarous  than  occa- 

*  Milton  to  Beauregard,  Oct.  15,  1863,  Milton  Papers. 

*  Milton  to  Mallory,  May  23,  1864,  ibid. 

*  Telegrams  between  Luke  Lott  and  Milton,  Feb.  3-4,  1864,  ibid. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebel!.,  s.  i,  v.  53,  p.  319. 

»  Off.  Reds.  Rebeli,  s.  i,  v.  53,  pp.  252,  319,  etc.    Reports  of  Col.  H. 
D.  Capers  (C.  S.  A.). 


262  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

sionally  hunting  the  men  with  hounds  and  did  not  yield  ad- 
vantage to  the  Confederate  cause.  The  care  of  destitute 
families  of  Confederate  soldiers  was  already  a  tax  on  the 
slender  resources  of  the  state/  The  destruction  of  prop- 
erty owned  by  Union  men  and  the  seizing  of  their  cattle 
and  crops  for  the  Confederate  commissary  increased  desti- 
tution. The  refugee  or  conscription  camps  became  an  ad- 
ditional burden  to  the  tottering  state.  ^ 

The  leader  of  one  of  the  most  notorious  deserter  and 
"  conscript "  bands  sent  the  following  characteristic  epistle 
— in  the  writing  of  which  he  had  evidently  labored  for  a 
long  time — to  Colonel  Capers,  commanding  the  Confederate 
force  in  pursuit 

Got  your  letter  left  for  me.  Anxious  to  hear  from  you  and 
you  from  me,  but  cannot  control  my  men  any  longer,  since 
they  saw  you  fire  our  house.  Cannot  control  them  any  longer. 
I  ain't  accountable  for  what  they  do  now.  As  for  myself,  I 
will  do  anything  that  any  half-white  man  ever  done,  only  to 
go  into  the  Confederate  War  any  more ;  though  when  I  was 
in  it  I  done  my  duty,  I  reckon.  Ask  Col.  Smith  if  I  was  not 
a  good  soldier  as  long  as  he  was  captain,  but  now  I  have  went 
on  the  other  side  and  tried  what  we  call  the  United  States  of 
Taylor,  but  I  find  it  like  Confederate  men,  more  wind  than 
work.  As  for  me,  I  ain't  a-going  in  for  any  order,  only  to 
stay  with  Mr.  Johnston  and  help  him  tend  his  stock,  and  I 
will  help  him  pen  and  drive  cattle,  but  my  oath  will  not  per- 
mit me  to  fight  any  more.  If  you  will  send  and  get  me  an 
exemption  and  my  men  who  have  taken  the  oath  to  stay  in 

*  Fla.  Senate  Journal,  1864,  p.  31.  During  1862-3  the  state  govern- 
ment was  contributing  to  the  supfwrt  of  more  than  11,000  destitute 
persons  in  soldier's  families  and  during  the  following  year  more  than 
13,000. 

'  An.  Cyclo.,  1863,  "  Florida,"  quoting  Gov.  Milton ;  Governor's  Mes- 
sage, Nov.  17,  1862 — Milton  Papers;  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  53,  p. 
251. 


INTERNAL  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  CONFEDERACY 


263 


Taylor  County,  and  raise  stock  for  you,  they  will  do  so,  but 
they  will  not  go  into  the  war  if  you  had  as  many  men  as 
dogs,  for  our  title  is  Florida  Royals,  and  if  we  cannot  get  a 
furlough  from  Mr.  Jeff  Davis  during  the  war  you  will  find  our 
title  right  for  awhile,  so  I  remain  a  flea  until  I  get  a  furlough 
from  headquarters,  and  when  you  put  your  thumb  on  me,  and 
then  raise  it  up,  I  will  be  gone.  I  give  you  my  respects  for 
the  good  attention  you  paid  my  wife,  for  it  was  not  her  notion 
for  me  to  do  as  I  have  been  doing.  Just  set  me  and  my  men 
free  from  the  war,  and  we  will  try,  with  leave,  to  get  corn  till 
ours  can  make.  So  here  is  my  love  for  the  good  attention  for 
my  wife  and  child.  If  the  war  lasts  long  enough,  and  you 
will  raise  him  to  be  a  good  soldier,  he  will  show  the  spunk 
of  his  daddy.  W.  W.  Strickland, 

Fla.  Royals.^ 

In  dealing  with  these  people  of  Florida,  the  Confederate 
war  department  was  temporizing.  Opportunity  was  given 
such  refugees  to  retract  and  come  back  to  the  support  of  the 
Confederacy.  General  Beauregard  issued  a  proclamation 
on  March  4th,  1864,  promising  amnesty  and  employment  in 
a  non-military  capacity  to  all  conscripts  and  deserters  who 
would  come  into  his  lines  within  forty  days.^  General  Gor- 
don (C.  S.  A.),  commanding  in  West  Florida,  issued  a  very 
similar  proclamation  on  March  i8th,  promising  amnesty  to 
the  disloyal  if  they  would  report  to  conscript  camps  before 
April  5th.  "  Severe  punishment  to  all  deserters  deaf  to 
this  clemency,"  he  concluded.  "  All  such  persons  found 
with  arms  in  their  hands  will  be  shot  without  mercy.  The 
families  of  deserters  and  the  disloyal  will  be  sent  into  the 
interior  and  their  property  destroyed,  and  all  cattle,  horses, 
and  hogs  will  be  driven  away  or  shot."  '    By  February  ist, 

•  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  53,  p.  319, 
'  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  30,  1864. 

•  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  53,  p.  320. 


264  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

1865,  220  deserters  in  Florida  had  returned  to  the  Southern 
army  and  2,142  conscripts  were  enrolled.^ 

Governor  Milton  counseled  greater  moderation  toward  de- 
serters than  was  shown.  He  repeatedly  expressed  the  opin- 
ion that  many  left  the  ranks  for  the  purpose  of  helping  their 
starving  families.  He  thought  that  most  offenders  had  little 
conception  of  the  gravity  of  their  offense  in  military  law.* 
He  condemned  the  destruction  of  deserters'  property  when 
such  destruction  left  their  families  without  means  of  sub- 
sistence. "  I  cannot  approve  of  this  war  on  women  and  chil- 
dren," he  stated  with  feeling  to  General  Anderson.'  In  a 
private  letter  he  declared  that  "  the  opposition  to  the  Con- 
script Act  and  the  attempts  to  enforce  it  produced  much 
dissatisfaction,  and  some  men  of  influence  who  approved 
secession  now  prefer  the  United  States  Government  in  spite 
of  Lincoln's  Emancipation  Proclamation."  *  This  was  in 
the  autumn  of  1862. 

^Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  iv,  v.  3,  pp.  iioi,  1109.  These  figures  are  for 
all  returns  from  the  passage  of  the  Conscript  Act  in  the  spring  of 
1862  to  Feb.,  1865.  The  proclamation  of  amnesty  issued  by  Beaure- 
gard and  Gordon  had  little  effect.  Gen.  Anderson  stated :  "  Some  [de- 
serters] availed  themselves  of  the  terms  of  the  proclamation  [Beau- 
regard's], but  no  large  number";  also  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  368. 

*  Message,  Nov.  1862 — Milton  Papers.  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  52, 
pt.  2,  p.  337 ;  V.  53,  pp.  251,  252,  343. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  53,  p.  251.  "  The  destruction  of  property 
in  Taylor  and  Lafayette  counties  has  caused  women  and  children  to 
depend  on  the  Govt,  who  once  were  able  to  support  themselves."  On 
June  20,  1864,  he  wrote :  "  The  destruction  of  dwellings  and  property, 
and  the  arrest  and  continued  custody  of  citizens  of  the  State,  women 
and  children,  by  order  of  Gen.  Gordon,  has  resulted  as  I  thought  It 
has  increased  the  number  of  deserters  and  excited  among  them  a  vin- 
dictive purpose  to  avenge  wrongs  and  to  liberate  women,  children  and 
aged  men  who  have  been  deprived  of  property  on  suspicion  of  dis- 
loyalty. Houses  destroyed  should  be  rebuilt  and  women  supplied  with 
cards  and  looms  and  rations  for  a  few  months." 

*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  v.  52,  pt.  2,  p.  372. 


INTERNAL  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  CONFEDERACY    265 

The  impressment  of  food  by  the  Confederate  commissary 
agents  and  the  absence  of  so  many  of  the  able-bodied  men 
from  home  left  many  families  destitute,  and  undoubtedly 
caused  many  a  man  to  leave  the  army  in  order  that  he  might 
aid  his  family.^  The  Federal  military  and  naval  authorities 
were  in  touch  with  this  fugitive  class  and  eager  to  win  its 
favor.  Food,  arms,  money  and  safety  were  offered.^  Dur- 
ing the  winter  of  1864  and  1865,  hundreds  of  one-time 
Confederate  soldiers  and  other  refugees  came  into  the 
Union  lines.' 

This  exodus  to  the  enemy  was  an  obvious  indication  of 
final  break-down  in  the  internal  strength  of  the  Confed- 
eracy.   The  bare  necessities  of  life  were  running  low.    Corn 

^Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  iv,  v.  3,  p.  45. 

*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  14,  p.  724;  V.  35,  pt.  I,  pp.  368,  371 ;  pt.  2,  p.  94;  v.  53, 
p.  319.  Col.  Capers  found  in  a  captured  deserters'  camp  2,000  rounds 
of  ammunition  for  U.  S.  Army  Springfield  muskets  and  several  barrels 
of  flour  from  "  U.  S.  Subsist.  Dept."  Gen.  Anderson  declared :  "  In 
each  of  these  sections  the  enemy,  is  known  to  be  inciting  bands  to  blood- 
shed and  plunder,  supplying  arms,  clothing,  food,  etc." 

'  N.  Y.  Times,  Jan.  23,  1864 :  "  Nearly  enough  refugees  in  St.  Augus- 
tine and  Fernandina  to  make  a  regiment." 

N.  Y.  Herald,  Mar.  30,  1864:  "The  laborers  in  the  different  depart- 
ments here  (Jacksonville)  are  crackers  still  attired  in  the  dirty  gray 
uniforms  furnished  them  by  the  Confederate  Govt.,"  May  20.  "  At 
Depot  Keys  some  300  men,  women  and  children.  ...  At  St.  Mark's 
there  are  several  hundred ;  ...  at  West  Pass  nearly  200 ;  at  Charlotte 
Harbqr,  160;  at  Tampa,  and  on  St.  Andrew's  Sound,  like  numbers,"  etc. 

N.  Y.  Times,  Mar.  18,  1865 :  "  Two  companies  of  the  Second  Florida 
Cavalry  recruited  from  refugees  and  deserters,"  etc. 

Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  2,  p.  63 : — 

(Asboth),  "At  East  Pass,  609  destitute  women  and  children,"  etc., 
s.  i,  v.  2,  pt.  I,  p.  817.  (Asboth),  Nov.  13,  1863,  "If  I  had  boats,  I 
think  I  could  raise  one  white  and  one  black  regiment  in  West  Florida." 
"  500  Union  men,  deserters  and  negroes  near  Cedar  Keys,"  etc.,  p.  12 
(Asboth).  "Nearly  200  deserters  near  St.  Mark's,  in  open  war  with 
the  Confederacy,"  etc.  (Asboth).  V.  35,  pt.  2,  p.  215  (Hatch),  Aug., 
1864: 


266  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

was  scarce,  meat  and  salt  were  precious  commodities.  Fields 
were  grown  up  with  weeds.  Seaports  were  closed.  Railroad 
companies  had  ceased  operating  trains  over  exposed  divi- 
sions. Boats  of  commerce  plied  the  rivers  at  their  peril.  Cows 
and  calves,  mules  and  horses  had  been  driven  off  to  support 
the  struggling  armies.  Grim  desolation  gripped  the  land. 
The  intermittent  post  brought  news  of  dead,  dead,  dead, 
until  the  very  world  seemed  dying  beneath  the  eyes  of  Flor- 
ida's simple  population.  The  stress  of  war  was  indeed 
awful.  The  armies  of  the  powerful  Union  were  piercing 
the  very  vitals  of  the  proud  Southern  republic.  People 
were  faced  by  starvation.  They  were  surrounded  by 
misery,  as  in  a  nightmare,  yet  thousands  were  willing  to 
fight  on  with  the  gates  of  hope  practically  closed.  The 
women  at  home,  sad-eyed  and  poverty  stricken,  deftly  put 
patches  on  their  own  garments,  prayed  to  God,  sewed  to- 
gether precious  remnants  of  cloth  for  the  men  in  ranks, 
and  usually  saw  to  it  that  any  bacon  went  to  the  firing  line, 
and  not  on  home  tables. 

In  recapitulating  the  record  of  Union  sentiment  and  de- 
sertion in  Florida,  we  observe  that  Union  sympathizers  and 
deserters  never  exceeded  one-fifth  of  the  adult  white  popu- 
lation, even  during  the  demoralization  of  the  last  year  of 
conflict.  Most  of  these  people  were  illiterate  Southern 
whites  or  persons  born  and  reared  in  the  North.  We  ob- 
serve that  Union  sentiment  manifested  itself  in  East  Flor- 
ida by  political  meetings,  political  manifestos,  and  abortive 
attempts  to  reconstruct  the  state  government.  We  observe 
the  Federal  military  and  finally  the  national  administration 
taking  part  in  such  attempts  at  reconstruction.  We  observe 
Union  sympathizers  and  deserters  raiding  and  plundering 
in  West  Florida  and  Central  Florida.  We  observe  Confed- 
erate troops  attempting  to  stamp  out  disaffection  by  warn- 
ings, whippings,  and  even  hangings  and  house-burnings. 


INTERNAL  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  CONFEDERACY    267 

We  observe  the  existence  of  guerilla  warfare  in  Florida, 
which  helped  the  cause  of  the  Union  indirectly  by  more 
quickly  exhausting  the  strength  of  the  state,  and  directly  by 
furnishing  guides,  scouts,  and  information  to  invading 
armies.  Finally,  we  observe  that  the  "  Union  men  "  created 
for  the  Florida  government  at  least  two  obvious  problems : 
first,  the  protection  of  Confederate  sympathizers;  second, 
the  supporting  in  refugee  camps  of  thousands  of  destitute 
women  and  children  of  the  despoiled  and  despised  deserters 
and  conscripts. 


CHAPTER  XI 
The  Olustee  Campaign — 1864 

The  food  supply  of  the  Confederate  armies  was  becom- 
ing rapidly  exhausted  by  the  autumn  of  1863.  The  fact 
was  probably  not  unconsidered  by  Federal  military  authori- 
ties. One  year  earlier  (October,  1862),  Commander  Wood- 
hull,  of  the  Federal  navy,  after  a  raid  up  the  St.  Johns,  de- 
clared that 

the  cattle  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  North  Carolina  and  South 
Carolina  have  all  been  consumed.  Texas  and  the  rich  grazing 
country  to  the  westward  of  the  Mississippi  being  cut  off,  the 
whole  dependence  of  the  Confederate  Government  to  feed  their 
Army  now  rests  on  this  State  [Florida].  I  have  it  from  reli- 
able sources  that  its  agents  are  all  over  the  state  buying  up  all 
the  cattle  obtainable,  paying  any  price  so  they  can  get  the 
animals.  The  only  dependence  the  people  of  Georgia  and 
Florida  have  for  their  sugar  is  that  raised  along  the  banks  of 
this  river  [St.  Johns].  The  greatest  blow  at  this  war  would 
be  the  entire  destruction  of  the  sugar  crop  and  the  small  salt- 
works along  the  shore  on  the  coast  of  this  State,^ 

Such  rumors  were  evident  exaggerations  in  1862,  but  they 
contained  the  substance  of  an  important  truth — namely, 
that  the  South's  food  supply  was  failing  and  that  Florida's 
comparative  isolation  made  it  an  important  cattle  range. 

A  circular  of  rather  alarming  import,  which  supports  the 
foregoing  generalization,  was  sent  out  from  Quincy,  Flor- 

^  Naval  War  Records,  s.  i,  v.  13,  p.  369. 
268 


THE  OLUSTEE  CAMPAIGN  269 

ida,  on  November  2nd,  1863,  by  the  chief  Confederate  com- 
missary officer  for  the  state,  Major  P.  W.  White/  It  was  a 
passionate  appeal  to  the  citizens  of  the  Southern  republic  in 
Florida.  Major  White  declared  that  the  "  issues  "  of  the 
war  had  more  than  ever  been  transferred  to  the  "  people  at 
home  ".  If  they  should  decrease  their  support  of  the  Con- 
federate armies  those  armies  must  fall  back  from  the  fron- 
tier. If  the  Federal  army  should  break  through  the  fam- 
ished Confederate  lines  the  "  wave  of  desolation  "  would 
roll  from  the  Gulf  to  the  Atlantic — the  cause  would  be  lost. 
If  the  Southern  people,  he  said,  valued  their  cattle  and  hogs, 
their  corn  and  their  money  more  than  their  cause,  their  army 
must  fail.  To  give  bountifully  was  a  fearful  test  of  pa- 
triotism, for  the  "  people  at  home  "  were  poor — but  the 
Confederate  army  needed  food,  and  needed  it  badly  by  the 
autumn  of  '63. 

The  chief  commissary  officer  for  General  Bragg's  army 
had  written  that  his  troops  were  dependent  on  Florida  for 
beef,  because  all  other  available  sources  were  exhausted.* 
The  chief  Confederate  commissary  officer  for  Georgia  had 
written  that  the  Southern  forces  in  Georgia  looked  to  Flor- 
ida because  Georgia's  beef  supply  was  practically  exhausted.' 
The  chief  Confederate  commissary  officer  for  South  Caro- 
lina had  written :  "  We  are  almost  entirely  dependent  on 
Florida.  .  .  .  We  now  have  40,000  troops  and  laborers  to 
subsist.  The  supply  of  bacon  on  hand  in  this  city  [Charles- 
ton] is  20,000  pounds  and  the  cattle  furnished  by  this  state 
is  not  one-tenth  of  what  is  required  ".*    Major  Miller  (C. 

»  Report  Gen.  Beauregard,  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  2,  pp. 
393-396. 

*  Letters  of  October  5,  6,  and  19,  1863.  , 

*  Mr.  Ix)cke. 

*  Maj.  Guerin,  October  9,  1863. 


270  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

S.  A.),  of  Savannah,  had  written:  "The  stock  of  bacon  and 
beef  for  the  armies  of  the  Confederate  States  is  now  ex- 
hausted. .  .  .  Starvation  stares  the  army  in  the  face;  the 
handwriting  is  on  the  wall.  .  .  .  From  the  best  informa- 
tion I  have  the  resources  in  food  (meat)  in  both  Tennessee 
and  Virginia  armies  are  exhausted.  This  remark  now  ap- 
plies with  equal  force  to  South  Carolina  and  Georgia."  ^ 

Major  White  included  these  letters  in  his  circular  ad- 
dressed to  Floridians.  He  pointed  out  that  two  large 
armies  looked  almost  entirely  to  Florida  for  their  supply 
of  beef  and  bacon.^  He  tailed  upon  the  people  to  husband 
their  stores  in  order  to  help  the  Confederacy  meet  success- 
fully the  threatened  famine.  Florida  was  evidently  eco- 
nomically more  important  to  the  Confederacy  in  1863  than 
in  1 86 1.  General  John  K.  Jackson,  of  the  Southern  army  in 
Florida,  estimated  in  1864  that  25,000  head  of  cattle  and 
10,000  head  of  hogs  went  annually  from  the  state  to  the 
armies  beyond  its  borders.* 

'  Letter  of  October  10,  1863. 

*  The  state  comptroller  in  October,  1862,  reported  to  the  governor 
that  the  number  of  cattle  in  Florida  was  as  follows :  in  East  Florida, 
383,717;  in  Central  Florida,  174,378;  in  West  Florida,  100,514;  total, 
658,609.  These  figures  seem  to  be  taken  from  returns  during  1860-61, 
and  are  probably  much  under  the  number  of  cattle  in  1863.  Droves 
were  driven  from  Georgia  into  Florida.  See  Milton  Papers,  October 
10,  1862 — memoranda  of  comptroller. 

'  "  The  most  valuable  portion  of  Florida,"  wrote  Gen.  Jackson  to 
Gen.  Cooper,  "  is  the  middle  counties  of  the  Peninsula — Alachua,  Mar- 
ion, and  other  counties  in  that  vicinity.  Its  productive  capacity  is 
very  great  and  the  character  of  its  supplies  of  ines  imable  value  to 
the  Confederacy.  The  sugar  and  syrup  there  produced  cannot,  I  be- 
lieve, be  supplied  by  any  other  portion  of  the  Confederacy.  From  offi- 
cial and  other  data  I  learn  that  the  product  of  army  supplies  will 
amount  annually  10  25,000  head  of  beeves,  equal  to  10,000,000  pounds; 
1,000  hogsheads  of  sugar;  100,000  gallons  of  syrup,  equal  by  exchange 
to  4,000,000  pounds  of  bacon;  10,000  hogs,  equal  to  1,000,000  pounds  of 
bacon;   50,000  sides  of  leather;    100,000  barrels  of  fish    (if  labor  af- 


THE  OLUSTEE  CAMPAIGN 


271 


To  have  put  Major  White's  circular  in  the  public  press 
would  have  been  showing  a  weakness  to  the  enemy.  Ac- 
cordingly it  was  mailed  to  supposedly  discreet  persons  who 
were  asked  to  read  it  privately  and  not  let  it  pass  out  of 
their  possession  except  to  those  "  true  and  prudent "  per- 
sons who  could  be  trusted.  It  was  soon  widely  distributed 
over  the  state  and  at  some  places  during  the  late  autumn  of 
1863  stuck  up  on  trees  at  cross  roads  where  both  the  pru- 
dent and  the  foolish  pass.^ 

Its  startling  disclosures  probably  reached  the  Federal 
government  before  the  end  of  1863.  General  Beauregard 
stated :  "  The  paper  needs  no  comment.  ...  I  am  assured 
it  was  one  of  the  main  causes  of  the  expedition  to  Jack- 
sonville and  thence  toward  Lake  City."  ^  At  Olustee  oc- 
curred the  battle  which  checked  this  invasion — ^the  most 
serious  which  Florida  has  ever  experienced.  "  Among 
many  most  extraordinary  things  brought  to  light  by  this 
invasion,"  reported  the  Florida  correspondent  of  the  New 
York  Herald,  "  is  a  document  emanating  from  the  Com- 
missariat Department  of  Quincy,  Florida,  in  which  there  is 
startling  evidence  to  be  found  of  the  desperate  condition  of 

forded),  equal  to  20,000,000  pounds  of  fish.  Oranges,  lemons,  arrow- 
root, salt,  blockade  goods,  iron,  etc.  Counting  the  bacon  at  one-third 
pound  and  beef  and  fish  at  one  pound  to  the  ration  there  are  of  meat 
rations  45,000,000 — enough  to  supply  250,000  for  six  months."  Off. 
Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  2,  p.  606.  For  references  to  food  supply 
in  Florida  see  also  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  i,  p.  467;  s.  i,  v.  14,  pp. 
473,  703;  s.  i,  V.  26,  pt.  I,  p.  873;  s.  i,  v.  28,  pt.  2,  p.  450;  s.  i,  v.  35,  pp. 
258,  308,  349,  366;  s.  i,  V.  35,  pt.  I,  pp.  279,  388,  395.  Also  Townsend 
Library   (Columbia  University),  v.  41,  p.  387. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  2,  p.  294.  Beauregard  to  Cooper: 
"  I  was  informed  by  sundry  persons  that  it  had  been  widely  dis- 
tributed," etc.  N.  Y.  Herald,  February  21,  1864.  A  copy  was  obtained 
at  Baldwin  by  Federal  troops  early  in  February.  Early  in  January 
it  was  evidently  at  Lake  City. 

*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  35,  pt.  2,  p.  295. 


272  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

the  enemy.  Beef  and  bacon  are  entirely  exhausted  through- 
out the  South  and  from  all  quarters  cries  are  arising  for 
relief  from  Florida."  ^ 

The  explanation  of  the  invasion  of  '64  is,  however,  not 
so  simple  as  this.  Before  the  circular  was  sent  forth  the 
probabilities  of  the  movement  into  Florida  were  discussed 
at  the  North.  The  Northern  press  hostile  to  the  Lincoln 
administration  interpreted  the  invasion  as  a  part  of  the 
President's  plan  to  apply  in  Florida  his  own  ideas  concern- 
ing reconstruction.  One  year  before,  Federal  politics  had 
played  a  minor  part  in  the  attack  on  East  Florida.  Since 
1862  the  Union  had  retained  a  foothold  on  the  east  coast 
at  Fernandina  and  St.  Augustine.  Federal  direct  tax  com- 
missioners had  been  appointed  in  October,  1862,^  and  at 
least  one  of  them,  Stickney,  became  a  constant  intriguer  for 
more  Federal'troops  in  that  state  where  his  jurisdiction  lay. 
"  Union  men  "  presented  now  and  then  to  the  newspapers 
the  necessity  and  justice  back  of  Florida  loyalists'  demand 
for  greater  Federal  protection  and  demonstrated  the  ad- 
vantages (illusory)  to  the  Union  which  would  follow  if 
such  protection  were  given.' 

On  September  7th,  1863,  Tax  Commissioner  Stickney  ar- 
rived in  Washington.  Forthwith  it  was  reported  in  the 
newspapers  that  he  came  to  petition  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  name 

*  A^.  Y.  Herald,  February  20,  1864. 

*  L.  D.  Stickney,  Jno.  S.  Sammis,  and  Harrison  Reed.  Gen.  Mitchell 
commanding  the  Department  of  the  South  was  directed  to  afford  them 
all  assistance  and  protection  that  may  be  required  "for  the  performance 
of  their  duty."  N.  Y.  Times,  October  16,  1862;  also  March  6,  1864. 
Reed  and  Sammis  were  replaced  in  1864  by  two  "  Union  men "  of 
Florida — Judge  Wm.  Alsop  and  Buckingham  Smith — see  Jacksonville 
Union,  December  31,  1864. 

'  N.  Y.  World,  February  17,  1864  (letter  from  Fernandina)  ;  March 
II,  1864.  N.  Y.  Times,  October  16,  1862;  January  25,  1863.  N.  Y. 
Tribune,  November  6,  1862.    N.  Y.  Herald,  September  8,  1863. 


THE  OLUSTEE  CAMPAIGN  273 

of  Florida's  loyal  citizens  to  send  a  large  military  force  into 
the  state  for  the  purpose  of  relieving  the  people  there  from 
"  Confederate  rule  ",  for  the  re-establishment  of  a  "  loyal  " 
judiciary  and  a  "  loyal  "  legislature,  and  for  the  sending 
of  "  loyal  "  representations  to  the  national  Congress.^ 

Mr.  Stickney's  reputation  was  not  of  the  best  nor  his  in- 
fluence in  political  circles  very  high.  He  was  undoubtedly 
a  person  who  mixed  politics  and  private  business  indis- 
criminately and  for  his  pecuniary  advantage.*  Yet  he  was 
the  appointee  and  friend  of  Secretary  Chase  of  the  treasury 
department.  He  might  or  might  not  have  influenced  Lin- 
coln to  attempt  the  political  reorganization  of  Florida. 
Such  reorganization  seemed  successful  or  partly  successful 
at  that  time  in  other  Southern  states.' 

Lincoln  was  beginning  to  consider  the  next  year's  na- 
tional election.  He  naturally  wished  to  succeed  himself,  and 
his  adverse  critics  said  then  that  his  Southern  political  pro- 
gram was  meant  primarily  to  obtain  votes  for  himself  in 
the  nominating  convention  and  the  election  following.* 
This  is  a  rather  gross  interpretation  of  the  President's 
motives,  for,  as  the  Tribune  put  it,  "  it  is  quite  possible 
that  the  Administration  may  desire  the  return  of  a  loyal 
state  to  the  Union  without  reference  to  the  next  Presidential 
election."  '    At  any  rate,  soon  after  the  Stickney  newspaper 

» N.  Y.  Herald,  September  8,  1863. 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  38th  Cong.,  2nd  Ses.,  No.  18. 

'  Hosmer,  Outcome  of  the  Civil  War,  pp.  134-36.  Military  governors 
had  been  appointed  by  the  President  during  1862  in  the  states  of  North 
Carolina,  Louisiana,  Tennessee  and  Arkansas.  The  loyal  in  Louisiana 
had  gone  so  far  as  to  elect  representatives  to  U.  S.  Congress  and 
they  were  admitted  to  seats.  See  also  McCarthy's  Lincoln's  Plan  of 
Reconstruction ;  Dunning's  Essays  on  the  Civil  War,  etc.,  and  Welles' 
Diary,  v.  1. 

*  N.  Y.  World,  February  13,  1864. 

•  N.  Y.  Tribune,  February  23,  1864. 


274  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

notices  Lincoln  showed  renewed  interest  in  Florida.^  Loyal 
reconstruction  there  and  military  invasion  were  connected 
in  discussion  at  the  North  as  perfectly  germane  subjects 
before  the  end  of  October  (1863).  Judge  Philip  Fraser,  a 
reputable  Republican  Federal  office-holder,  exiled  from 
Florida,  stated  on  October  8th  that,  "  if  forces  are  to  be  sent 
to  Florida  to  be  used  as  tools  for  political  wire-pullers  and 
speculators  it  were  better  not  to  send  them  at  all.  We  want 
bold  and  earnest  men  to  go  down  inspired  by  true  purpose 
— the  restoration  of  Florida  to  the  Union  as  a  free  state. 
Political  manoeuvers  may  come  after  but  not  before."  ^ 

Stickney  was  known  personally  and  well  to  General  Gill- 
more,  who  commanded  the  military  district  nominally  in- 
cluding Florida.  Evidently  he  had  urged  invasion  upon  this 
officer.^  On  December  8th,  Lincoln  issued  his  Amnesty 
Proclamation  announcing  his  plan  of  reconstruction  in  the 
South.*  A  week  later.  General  Gillmore  suggested  to  General 
Halleck — then  general-in-chief  of  the  Union  armies — that 
a  Federal  force  might  be  profitably  sent  into  Florida  to  re- 
cover the  most  valuable  portion  of  the  state,  to  cut  off  the 
enemy's  food  supplies  and  to  increase  the  number  of  negro 
troops."  Nothing  was  said  of  political  objects.  On  De- 
cember 22nd,  Gillmore  was  formally  authorized  by  Halleck 
to  undertake  such  operations  in  the  Southern  peninsula  as 
he  might  think  best." 

*See  an  interesting  paper  in  the  Battle  of  Olustee  by  Gen.  Sam. 
Jones,  C.  S.  A.,  which  treats  of  political  and  economic  as  well  as  mili- 
tary side  of  this  invasion.  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  v.  4, 
pp.  76-79. 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  2nd  Session,  No.  18,  p.  155. 
»  OfF.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  282. 

*  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln's  Complete  Wks.,  v.  2,  p.  442. 

*  Report  Secretary  Stanton  to  Senate,  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35, 
pt.  I,  p.  292. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  276. 


THE  OLUSTEE  CAMPAIGN  275 

On  the  same  day  a  number  of  exiled  "  Union  men  "  sailed 
from  Port  Royal,  S.  C,  on  the  ship  Maple  Leaf  for  St. 
Augustine.^  Among  them  was  Stickney,  who  was  popularly 
reported  to  have  talked  with  the  President  in  September. 

Soon  after  the  Florida  Union  men  from  South  Carolina 
had  reached  St.  Augustine,  they  reported  to  the  Northern 
press  that  "  a  large  and  enthusiastic  "  Union  meeting  had 
taken  place  on  the  19th,  and  that  this  gathering  had  passed 
resolutions  calling  for  the  reorganization  of  the  state  gov- 
ernment on  a  basis  of  loyalty  to  the  United  States  constitu- 
tion, for  the  resumption  at  once  of  Federal  relations,  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery  in  Florida,  for  the  withdrawal  from 
the  "  rebels  "  of  the  elective  franchise,  for  the  election  of 
a  "  loyal  "  legislature,  and  for  the  proper  amending  of  the 
state  constitution.  The  secession  ordinance  was  declared 
by  the  meeting  to  be  "  null  and  void  ".^  The  officers  of  the 
24th  Mass.  Infantry  at  St.  Augustine  were  active  in  prepar- 
ing the  negroes  about  them  for  loyal  reconstruction.^  Be- 
fore the  end  of  December  a  petition  had  gone  from  St 
Augustine  to  the  President,  signed  by  "  many  Union  men  " 
and  praying  for  immediate  "  armed  occupation  "  of  the  en- 
tire state. 

On  January  13th,  1864,  Mr.  Lincoln  informed  General 
Gillmore  that  he  understood  "  an  effort  is  being  made  by 
some  worthy  gentlemen  to  reconstruct  a  loyal  state  govern- 
ment in  Florida  ",  and  that  he  had  sent  Major  John  Hay 
with  "  blank  books  and  other  blanks  to  aid  in  the  recon- 
struction ".  "  I  wish  the  thing  to  be  done  in  the  most 
speedy  way  possible,"  he  added.* 

W.  Y.  Tribune,  December  29,  1863. 

*  N.  /.  Tribune,  December  29,  1863;  January  23,  1864;  N.  Y.  Times, 
January  2,  1864. 

'Ibid.,  December  29,  1863;  January  23,  1864;  N.  Y.  Times,  January 
23,  1864. 

*  Nicolay  and  Hay,  op.  cit.,  v.  2,  p.  470. 


276  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  following  day  Gillmore  informed  General  Halleck 
of  his  final  decision  to  occupy  the  west  shore  of  the  St. 
Johns  river,  Florida/  This  elicited  the  response  from  Hal- 
leck that  Secretary  of  War  Stanton  directed  that  all  plans 
be  left  to  the  discretion  of  Gillmore,  because  he,  Stanton, 
had  not  been  informed  of  the  objects  of  the  expedition  to 
be  sent  into  Florida.*  Neither  had  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  been  informed.'  This  is  most  strange.  Stanton  and 
Welles,  heads  of  the  two  departments  most  seriously  in- 
volved, were  evidently  not  closely  consulted  by  the  Presi- 
dent who  was  directing  the  movement  into  Florida.  Gill- 
more in  reply  to  Halleck  stated  that  the  objects  of  the  ex- 
pedition were  to  procure  an  outlet  for  cotton,  lumber,  tim- 
ber, and  naval  stores ;  to  cut  off  an  important  source  of  the 
Confederate  army's  food  supply;  to  obtain  recruits  for 
negro  regiments ;  and  to  inaugurate  measures  for  the  restor- 
ation of  Florida  to  the  Union  according  to  instructions 
from  Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  hands  of  Major  Hay.*  In  Decem- 
ber, Gillmore  had  not  included  things  political  among 
the  objects  of  the  proposed  invasion.  By  January  14th,  he 
had  enlarged  its  scope. 

Early  in  February,  Gillmore  ordered  General  Sey- 
mour to  prepare  to  proceed  with  troops  from  Hilton  Head, 
S.  C.,  on  board  transports  to  Jacksonville.  The  force 
under  Seymour's  command  numbered  between  five  and  six 
thousand — made  up  of  six  regiments  of  infantry,  one  regi- 
ment and  one  battalion  of  cavalry,  and  three  batteries.  Sey- 
mour and  command  sailed  the  next  day  for  Jacksonville, 
where  they  expected  to  land  on  Sunday,  February  7th.' 

*  OfF.  Reds.  Retell. ,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  276. 
*Ibid.,  p.  276. 

*  Diary  of  Gideon  Welles,  v.  i,  p.  231. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt  i,  p.  276. 
» Ibid.,  pp.  276,  280. 


THE  OLUSTEE  CAMPAIGN 


277 


The  Federal  forces  at  Femandina  received  orders  to  watch 
the  railway  from  Georgia  into  Florida  and  prevent  or  delay 
the  shifting  of  Confederate  forces  into  the  state  by  tearing 
up  a  portion  of  the  track. 

On  the  morning  of  February  7th,  the  leading  Federal 
transport  ran  alongside  the  Jacksonville  docks  amid  the 
cracking  of  a  few  carbines  from  the  retiring  Confederate 
troops.^  By  nightfall  the  place  was  once  more  an  armed 
Federal  camp.  The  town  was  pathetically  dilapidated — a 
mere  skeleton  of  its  former  self — a  victim  of  war,  lying 
there  beneath  the  cold  light  of  a  winter  moon.  Scarcely  a 
score  of  families  remained.  Straggling  winter  weeds  grew 
in  the  streets  and  vacant  lots,  and  where  the  tramping  mili- 
tary had  left  them  erect  these  despised  shrubs  which  bedeck 
forsaken  places  glowed  like  jewels  when  their  delicate  beads 
of  dew  were  touched  by  the  brilliance  of  the  moon.  The 
remains  of  burned  houses — the  poor  dry-bones  of  departed 
prosperity — gave  a  grotesque,  God- forsaken,  and  dreary 
aspect  to  the  town.  The  newly-spread  tents  of  the  troops 
protected  the  skeleton  as  a  whitened  sepulchre.  On  one 
side  was  the  St.  Johns  and  on  the  other  the  pine  woods 
stretched  away  in  vast  vistas  of  moonlight. 

News  of  Seymour's  arrival  traveled  rapidly.  On  Febru- 
ary 8th,  General  Finegan,  commanding  Confederate  forces 
in  East  Florida,  notified  General  Beauregard  at  Charleston, 
S,  C.  The  answer  which  flashed  back  directed  him  to  hold 
the  Federal  troops  at  bay  with  the  forces  then  on  hand. 
Troops  from  Charleston,  from  Savannah,  and  from  Central 
Florida  would  be  mobilized  in  East  Florida  as  rapidly  as 
possible.* 

In  the  meantime  Federal  raiders  from  Jacksonville  began 

^N.  Y.  Herald,  February  20,  1864;  A^.  Y.  Times,  February  20,  1864. 
*  Off.  Reds.  Rebel!.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  322. 


278  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

to  go  abroad  over  the  land.  Colonel  Henry,  at  the  head  of  a 
detachment  of  the  40th  Mass.  Mounted  Infantry,  left  Jack- 
sonville on  the  evening  of  the  8th,  going  west.^  His  route 
led  through  pine  woods  and  heavy  swamps.  The  command 
groped  its  way  over  now  darkened  now  moon-flecked  trails 
under  the  guidance  of  "  Union  men  "  who  knew  the  coun- 
try.^ Near  midnight  Henry's  raiders  approached  the  en- 
campment of  the  Milton  Light  Artillery.  A  sergeant  on 
mounted  picket  duty  heard  the  tramping  of  their  horses. 
He  rode  through  the  camp  shouting  at  the  top  of  his  voice, 
*'  Save  yourself,  the  enemy  is  upon  you !  "  "  My  command 
fled,"  said  Capt.  Dunham.  His  loss  was  eighteen  men,  four 
cannon,  six  wagons,  and  forty-five  horses  and  mules. ^  Just 
at  daybreak  Henry  rode  into  Baldwin,  twenty  miles  west  of 
Jacksonville. 

The  place  had  not  profited  by  the  war.  Its  railway  sta- 
tion, warehouse,  and  score  of  seedy  wooden  buildings 
passed  into  Federal  possession  without  a  shot.  Strategi- 
cally the  hamlet  was  important,  being  the  railway  junction 
from  which  radiated  lines  to  Jacksonville,  to  Georgia,  to 
Femandina  on  the  Atlantic,  to  Cedar  Keys  on  the  Gulf,  and 
to  Central  Florida.  Supplies  belonging  to  the  Confederacy 
were  stored  in  and  about  the  warehouse — cannon,  camp 
equipage,  accoutrements,  forage,  cotton,  cotton  thread,  cot- 
ton sheeting,  rice,  molasses,  blankets,  hides,  salt,  flour, 
sugar,  turpentine,  etc.  These  with  forty  horses  and  mules 
were  acquired  or  destroyed  by  Henry. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  295. 

»  N.  Y.  Times,  March  6,  1864.  Mr.  Alsop,  a  man  of  Northern  origin 
but  for  twenty  years  a  resident  of  Florida,  acted  as  guide  to  the 
Union  army  from  Jacksonville  as  far  as  Baldwin.  He  also  guided 
an  expedition  up  the  Nassau  river  after  lumber.  He  was  an  "  old 
and  experienced  lumberman"  active  in  politics. 

»  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  347.  Report  of  Capt.  Dunham 
(C.  S.  A.),  of  Milton  Light  Artillery.  See  also  accounts  in  N.  Y. 
Herald  and  N.  Y.  Times,  February  20,  1864. 


THE  OLUSTEE  CAMPAIGN  279 

The  people  remaining  in  Baldwin  told  the  invaders  that 
the  Confederate  troops  had  retired  westward.  Wretched 
desolation  was  written  over  the  face  of  the  country/  "  Yes, 
sir,  Baldwin  is  a  dreadful  poor  city  with  right  smart  poor 
people  in  it,"  said  one  citizen  to  a  man  in  the  Federal  ranks, 
and  the  trooper  had  no  reason  to  doubt  the  piteous  truth 
of  the  remark. 

At  the  south  fork  of  the  St.  Marys  a  small  body  of  Con- 
federate cavalry  contested  the  crossing  with  Henry's  com- 
mand; but  the  raiders  pushed  over  with  a  loss  of  three 
killed  and  four  wounded,  and  just  at  twilight  reached  the 
hamlet  of  Sanderson.  The  flames  of  burning  supplies — 
corn  and  turpentine — fired  by  the  retiring  Confederate  cav- 
alry lit  up  the  group  of  houses  near  the  railway  station. 
At  the  "  hotel  "  a  dozen  women  were  gathered.  "  They 
were  inclined  to  welcome  us  because  they  thought  we  would 
be  able  to  prevent  the  spread  of  the  destructive  element," 
recorded  one  raider.  "  They  were  nervous  and  fidgety  but 
managed  to  give  us  a  tolerably  polite  reception  and  to  as- 
sure us  of  their  sympathy  with  the  rebel  cause.  .  .  .  Their 
features  are  sharpened  and  pinched  as  if  the  gaunt  wolf 
famine  had  already  been  on  the  threshold  of  their  dwell- 
ings."  ' 

Before  dawn  the  Federal  force  was  again  moving  west. 
Near  mid-day  Confederate  outposts  were  encountered  a 
few  miles  east  of  Lake  City.    The  Confederate  cavalry  as- 

'  Excellent  accounts  are  written  of  this  and  other  raids  by  Oscar 
bawyer  for  the  A^  Y.  Herald.  Sawyer  was  in  the  field  with  the  troops. 
His  facts  are  in  substantial  accord  with  official  reports.  Among  the 
supplies  taken  at  Baldwin  by  Henry  were  two  12-pound  field  rifles,  two 
smooth  bores,  three  3-inch  English  rifles  with  caissons,  one  tanning 
machine,  93  bales  of  cotton,  15  tierces  of  rice,  83  barrels  of  turpentine, 
four  days'  forage  for  1,000  men,  two  railway  cars  of  corn,  two  empty 
cars,  etc.    N.  Y.  Herald,  February  20,  1864. 

*  N.  Y.  Herald,  February  20,  1864. 


28o  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

sumed  the  aggressive  and  Henry  was  quickly  forced  to 
begin  his  retreat  toward  Jacksonville.  His  raid  had  been 
rapid  and  effective.  Moving  by  night  and  day  his  com- 
mand had  penetrated  fifty  miles  into  the  interior — as  far 
indeed  as  the  fateful  field  of  Olustee — had  practically  cut 
itself  loose  from  its  base  of  supplies,  had  encountered  the 
enemy  at  three  points,  had  captured  a  score  of  prisoners, 
had  seized,  destroyed,  or  caused  to  be  destroyed  property 
valued  at  almost  $1,000,000,  and  had  located  the  main  body 
of  the  Confederate  Army — all  with  a  loss  of  five  killed  and 
ten  wounded. 

While  the  Federal  cavalry  was  harrying  the  country 
west  of  Jacksonville,  Federal  raiding  expeditions  set  out 
from  Fernandina  by  way  of  bayous  and  swamp-paths. 
The  raiders  shelled  the  woods  from  aboard  gunboats, 
watched  the  railway  from  Georgia,  destroyed  property,  and 
located  lumber,  timber,  and  lumber  mills  for  future  confis- 
cation and  stealing.^ 

At  Jacksonville  the  Federal  main  body  was  preparing  to 
move  forward  into  the  interior.  The  town  soon  began  to 
assume  a  more  prosperous  air.  Traders  came  with  the 
army  and  were  given  permission  to  land  their  merchandise. 
Half -starved  Unionists  and  a  few  stray  negroes  came  in 
from  the  surrounding  country.  As  the  Federal  lines  were 
extended  to  the  west  the  property  of  the  "  rebels  "  was 
seized  and  droves  of  cattle  and  hogs  were  driven  into  town. 
Treasury  agents  were  busy  hunting  cotton,  turpentine,  and 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  357-8.  Maj.  Pennypacker's 
Report.  The  97th  Pennsylvania  was  in  camp  at  Fernandina  and  did 
most  of  this  raiding.  After  a  night  march  of  five  hours  through 
swamps  a  small  Confederate  force  was  surprised  and  captured  before 
day,  February  9th.  On  ihe  same  day  the  gunboat  Para  went  30  miles 
up  the  Nassau  river  shelling  the  woods  and  taking  an  inventory  of 
several  lumbering  plants. 


THE  OLUSTEE  CAMPAIGN  28 1 

timber.^  Mr.  Lincoln's  Amnesty  Proclamation  of  Decem- 
ber 8th  and  General  Gillmore's  orders  were  posted  in  con- 
spicuous places.^  General  Seymour,  however,  was  not  opti- 
mistic over  the  Florida  situation.  He  informed  his  chief, 
Gillmore,  that  what  had  "  been  said  of  desire  of  Florida 
to  come  back  now  [into  the  Union]  is  a  delusion.  The 
backbone  of  the  rebellion  is  not  here,  and  Florida  will  not 
cast  its  lot  with  the  Union  till  more  important  successes 
elsewhere  are  assured.  ...  I  would  advise  that  the  force 
be  withdrawn  at  once  from  the  interior  [Baldwin — twenty 
miles  west  of  Jacksonville],  and  that  Jacksonville  alone  be 
held."  He  added  significantly,  "  Stickney  and  others  have 
misinformed  you."  ' 

The  outlook  in  East  Florida  for  the  Confederacy  was 
perilous.*  General  Finegan's  army,  hovering  somewhere  be- 
tween Jacksonville  and  Lake  City,  was  facing  a  critical  situ- 
ation. Composed  of  1,800  infantry,  450  cavalry,  and  two 
batteries  it  was  confronting  a  well-equipped  and  well-offi- 
cered army  easily  twice  as  strong  numerically  and  guided  by 
men  who  knew  the  country  as  natives.^    Under  the  stimu- 

*  N.  Y.  Herald  and  A^.  Y.  Times,  February  23,  1864. 

*N.  Y.  Times,  February  23,  1864;  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln's  Com- 
plete Works,  V.  2,  p.  442. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  282.  Also  Gen.  Jones'  article, 
Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  CivU  War,  v.  4,  pp.  76-77. 

*  Oif.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  28,  pt.  2,  pp.  601-605.  Total  number  of 
troops  present  for  duty  in  Mil.  Districts  of  East  and  Middle  Florida 
(all  of  Florida  east  of  Apalachicola  river)  was  reported  by  Gen. 
Beauregard  on  December  31,  1863,  10  be  3,709 — 1,326  of  whom  were  in 
East  Florida.  These  were  Georgia  and  Florida  troops.  The  64th 
Georgia  infantry  was  ordered  from  Middle  Florida  to  Savannah, 
Georgia,  on  December  28th.  The  troops  were  scattered  over  a  vast 
stretch  of  country. 

*  Gen.  Seymour  was  a  veteran  of  the  Mexican  War  and  a  good  offi- 
cer. See  accounts  in  A'^.  Y.  Times,  March  6,  1864,  and  in  Herald,  Feb- 
ruary 20,  1864. 


282  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

lating  influence  of  success  partly  attained  the  Union  army 
had  already  begun  its  slow  march  west.  Unless  Finegan  re- 
ceived reinforcements  he  could  not  hope  to  successfully 
check  the  invasion.  He  expected  aid  from  Southern  Georgia 
and  South  Carolina.  The  Georgia  and  Florida  railroad  which 
almost  connected  Florida's  railway  system  with  that  of 
Georgia  had  a  gap  of  twenty-six  miles  ^  and  was  guarded 
by  Federal  outposts.  These  facts  made  the  moving  of 
troops  into  Florida  tedious — and  time  is  the  factor  which 
counts  most  in  campaigning. 

General  Beauregard  narrowly  watched  the  movements  of 
the  Federal  army  and  fleet  opposing  him  along  the  Georgia 
and  South  Carolina  coast.  Immediately  following  the  sail- 
ing of  the  Federal  expedition  from  Hilton  Head,  S.  C,  for 
Florida  demonstrations  were  made  by  Union  forces  against 
Johns  island,  Georgia,  to  attract  attention  away  from  Flor- 
ida. So  serious  seemed  the  situation  that  General  Colquitt 
and  a  brigade  of  Georgia  troops  were  sent  by  Beauregard  to 
reinforce  General  Wise  on  the  coast. ^  Beauregard  knew  well 
at  the  time  that  the  interior  of  Florida  was  threatened.  The 
problem  before  him  was  to  reinforce  Florida  without  haz- 
arding Confederate  occupation  of  Charleston  and  Savan- 
nah.' On  February  nth,  the  Confederate  batteries  opened 
tremendously  on  Morris  island  as  if  an  attack  by  assault 
was  in  preparation.  Federal  forces  were  thereupon  shifted 
to  Morris  island  from  Johns  island,  and,  the  pressure  evi- 
dently relieved,  Colquitt's  brigade  slipped  away  for  Florida.* 

Meanwhile  General  Gillmore  had  come  to  Jacksonville 
and  was  advising  a  very  cautious  program  to  his  subordi- 

^  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  323. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  284,  322. 

'Ibid.,  pp.  109-111.    Letters  of  Beauregard  to  Jones  and  Seddon. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  1 12,  323 ;  also  A^.  Y.  Herald,  February  13,  1864. 


THE  OLUSTEE  CAMPAIGN  283 

nate,  General  Seymour,  in  actual  command  of  the  expedi- 
tion then  piercing  the  interior  and  already  beyond  Baldwin. 
"  Eight  companies  of  the  54th  Mass.  ordered  to  Baldwin. 
Don't  risk  an  advance  on  Lake  City.  Hold  Sanderson,"  he 
wired  on  February  nth  from  Jacksonville  to  Seymour.^ 
Later  in  the  day  he  wired :  "  Concentrate  at  Sanderson  and 
on  the  St.  Marys  if  advance  meets  serious  opposition  " ; 
and  the  next  day :  "  Want  your  command  concentrated  at 
Baldwin  at  once  ".^ 

Thus  the  invasion  which  Gillmore  tried  to  direct  was 
certainly  cautious,  almost  timid,  and  finally  an  out-and-out 
withdrawal  from  the  neighborhood  of  Sanderson  to  Bald- 
win, nearer  Jacksonville.    He  feared  a  surprise.^ 

The  opposing  troops  of  Finegan  went  into  permanent 
camp  on  February  13th,  near  Olustee  or  Ocean  Pond — 3. 
few  miles  east  of  Lake  City  and  fifty  miles  west  of  Jack- 
sonville. Finegan  selected  a  position  between  two  small 
lakes  with  each  flank  protected  by  marsh  and  open  water. 
The  place  was  in  fact  a  gap  through  a  swampy  bit  of  coun- 
try. Through  this  gap  ran  the  pike  and  railway  to  the 
richer  interior.  Across  the  gap  the  Confederate  army 
threw  up  entrenchments  and  awaited  the  advance  of  the  in- 
vaders. * 

While  the  main  body  of  the  Federal  army  was  hesitating 
to  advance  deeper  into  the  enemy's  country  Confederate 
troops  were  moving  from  Georgia  into  Florida,  and  Fed- 

'  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  282. 

^Ibid.,  pp.  283-284. 

^Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  v.  4,  ^p.  76-80;  articles  by 
Gen.  Jones  (C.  S.  A.)  and  Gen.  Hawhy  (U.  S.  A.). 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  1,  p.  326.  Also  Battles  and  Leaders 
of  the  Civil  War,  v.  4,  p.  77.  Gen.  Jones'  article.  "  The  position  pos- 
sessed strength  provided  the  enemy  would  attack  it  directly  in  front, 
but  could  be  easily  turned." 


284  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

eral  cavalry  continued  its  raiding.  On  February  14th, 
Captain  Marshall  with  three  companies  of  the  4th  Mass. 
Cavalry  rode  into  Gainesville — more  than  fifty  miles  south- 
west of  Jacksonville — and  took  possession  of  food,  military 
stores  and  cotton  valued  at  $1,000,000.  A  portion  of  the 
food  was  given  to  the  remaining  inhabitants  of  Gainesville, 
no  private  property  was  destroyed,  and  the  people  were  told 
that  they  would  not  be  disturbed  if  they  kept  in-doors  after 
dark. 

Two  days  later  a  band  of  Confederate  light  cavalry  ar- 
rived at  Gainesville  led  by  Captain  Dickison,  a  remarkably 
bold,  aggressive  and  successful  guerilla  chief.  The  Federal 
troops  barricaded  a  portion  of  the  town  street  with  cotton 
bales  and  attempted  with  the  aid  of  some  negroes  to  beat 
ofif  the  attack.  After  several  hours  of  firing  the  Federal 
raiders  with  some  loss  withdrew  from  the  town  and  re- 
treated toward  Jacksonville,  abandoning  the  captured  prop- 
erty.^ 

From  Fernandina  raiding  parties  continued  to  harass  the 
country  for  a  radius  of  thirty  or  forty  miles — seizing  will- 
ing negroes,  burning  mills,  and  gathering  "  Union  "  refu- 
gees and  Confederate  deserters  into  Federal  lines.^  So  far, 
the  operations  of  the  invading  military  had  been  highly 
successful  in  seizing  and  destroying  property. 

General  Gillmore  had  left  Jacksonville  for  Hilton  Head, 
S.  C,  when  on  February  17th  General  Seymour — then  at 
Baldwin — sent  him  the  surprising  intelligence  that  he  in- 
tended to  proceed  at  once  to  the  Suwanee  river  to  destroy 

'  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  296;  N.  Y.  Tribune,  February 
29,  1864.  See  also  Dickison  and  His  Men,  by  Mrs.  Eliz.  Dickison. 
Dickison's  exploits  in  Florida  are  comparable  to  those  of  Marion  and 
Sumter  in  South  Carolina  during  the  American  Revolution. 

'Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  360. 


THE  OLUSTEE  CAMPAIGN  285 

the  railroad  bridge  there/  The  river  was  100  miles  west  of 
Jacksonville.  The  movement  was  not  in  accord  with  Gill- 
more's  policy.  When  he  heard  of  it  he  stated  that  he  was 
"  very  much  confused  ",  and  that  he  "  had  no  intention  to 
occupy  that  part  of  the  state  ".  ^  He  tried  to  stop  the  for- 
ward movement  but  the  news  had  reached  him  at  Hilton 
Head,  S.  C,  too  late.*  Before  his  orders  reached  Florida 
the  Federal  army  was  swung  out  from  Baldwin  on  its  fatal 
march  toward  Lake  City  and  the  Suwanee.  Between  it  and 
Lake  City  was  Olustee  where  the  Confederate  army  was 
entrenched.* 

Colquitt's  brigade  from  Georgia  had  arrived."*  "  We  tell 
the  people  of  Florida  to  be  of  good  cheer,"  appeared  in  the 
Tallahassee  Floridian.  "  Don't  give  up  in  despair.  Don't 
lend  a  credulous  ear  to  false  or  exaggerated  rumors.  Rally 
to  the  defense  of  your  country.  Every  man  should  have 
his  arms  and  equipment  in  readiness  for  immediate  use. 

1  Oif.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  284. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  285-6.  Yet  Gillmore  on  February  18th  said  in  a  letter  to 
Seymour,  "  a  raid  to  tear  up  the  railroad  west  of  Lake  City  will  be  of 
service,  but  I  have  no  intention  to  occupy  now  that  part  of  the  State." 

'  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  v.  8,  p.  284.  "  Gen.  Gillmore  received 
Seymour's  letter  concerning  his  intended  advance  after  he  had  reached 
Hilton  Head,  S.  C.  Gillmore  at  once  wrote  a  peremptory  order  re- 
straining Seymour's  advance  and  sent  it  to  Florida  by  a  special  staff 
officer — but  it  came  too  late  to  prevent  Olustee." 

*  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  v.  4,  p.  79.  Gen.  Hawley's  article 
on  Olustee.  Hawley  led  the  7th  Connecticut  in  that  battle.  He  says: 
"  At  Baldwin  a  night  or  two  before  the  battle  Gen.  Seymour  called 
together  six  or  eight  of  his  officers  for  consultation.  Some  were 
cautious ;  others,  outspoken ;  but  it  was  decidedly  the  general  opinion 
that  it  would  be  impossible  to  hold  permanently  out  toward  the  center 
of  the  state.  .  .  .  Most  of  us  thought  that  it  would  be  sufficient  to  at- 
tempt to  make  the  St.  Johns  River  our  main  western  line,  but  Sey- 
mour thought  it  was  his  duty  to  go  on.  He  was  and  is  a  brave  and 
honorable  patriot  and  soldier." 

'  Oif.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  331.    Report  Gen.  Finegan. 


286  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

If  a  Yankee  army  ever  penetrated  into  the  forests  and 
swamps  of  Florida  it  would  be  a  shame  if  it  were  allowed 
to  escape,  nor  will  it  if  our  generals  and  people  do  their 
duty."  ^  The  Confederate  force  at  Olustee  consisted  now 
of  4,600  infantry,  less  than  600  cavalry,  and  three  batteries 
of  twelve  guns.* 

On  the  19th,  the  head  of  the  Federal  army  was  at  Bar- 
ber's Station  on  the  St.  Marys.  Just  at  dusk  the  order  was 
passed  to  those  gathered  around  the  crackling  camp  fires  to 
prepare  several  days'  cooked  rations  for  a  rapid  advance  to 
begin  on  the  morrow.    Tough  work  was  ahead.* 

February  20th.  A  member  of  the  expedition  declared 
"  the  day  was  as  beautiful  as  ever  dawned.  A  clear  sky 
above  us,  and  the  savannah  that  stretched  out  on  either  side 
of  the  sandy  road  which  wound  through  pine  woods  was 
warm  with  the  golden  sunlight  pouring  through  the  resinous 
pine  tops  and  lending  to  the  air  a  balmy  fragrance."  *  Be- 
fore the  sun  was  well  up  the  Federal  army — 5,500  strong — 
was  moving  ahead  in  column  of  companies,  and  soon  in  two 
columns,  one  along  the  railway,  and  one  by   the  pike." 

'  Quoted  from  the  Tallahassee  Floridian  in  N.  Y.  Herald,  March  1, 
1864. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  331.  The  Confederate  force 
was  organized  in  three  brigades  as  follows:  ist  Brigade:  19  h,  23rd, 
27th,  28th  Georgia  Infantry  and  6th  Battalion  Florida  Infantry  with 
■Chatham  Artillery  (4  guns)  attached;  2nd  Brigade:  ist,  32nd,  64th 
Georgia  Infantry,  1st  Fla.  Battalion  of  Infantry  and  Bonaud's  Bat'alion 
of  Florida  Infantry  with  Guerard's  Light  Artillery  and  the  Florida 
Light  Artillery  attached  (8  guns);  3rd  Brigade:  2nd  Florida  Cavalry. 

»  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  286,  298.  Barber's  Station 
was  32  miles  west  of  Jacksonville  on  the  South  Fork  of  the  St.  Marys 
river.  P.  303 — Report  Col.  Hawley — "  We  had  10  days'  supply  of  hard 
bread  and  three  days  of  coffee  and  sugar." 

*  Oscar  Sawyer,  A^  Y.  Herald,  March  i,  1864. 

»  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  :,  pp.  288,  301,  307,  310,  311,  331,  339. 


THE  OLUSTEE  CAMPAIGN  287 

Along  the  roadside  stood  the  lofty  brown-red  trunks  of  the 
yellow  pines — which  rose  here  and  there  like  the  jasper 
pillars  of  some  vast  temple  with  its  votaries  moving  for- 
ward through  a  glowing  cloud  of  incense  in  dimmed  light 
— for  the  day  was  dry  and  the  road  was  sandy  and  a  film  of 
sand-dust  arose  which  caught  the  beams  of  the  morning 
sun  where  the  deep,  scented  shadows  of  the  great  dark 
wood  let  the  sunlight  through. 

Near  mid-day  Sanderson  was  passed.  For  more  than  an 
hour  the  main  body  continued  its  march  undisturbed,  when 
it  came  upon  the  Federal  advance  cavalry  which  had  halted 
on  encountering  Confederate  outposts.  Henry's  cavalry 
awaited  support.^ 

The  7th  Connecticut  Infantry  came  up  slowly  and  threw 
out  skirmishers.  This  was  more  than  three  miles  in  ad- 
vance of  the  Confederate  entrenchments  at  Olustee.  The 
face  of  the  country  was  fairly  level  and  free  from  under- 
brush— park-like — covered  by  an  "  open  "  pine  forest.  Less 
than  a  mile  to  the  north  of  both  armies  lay  a  number  of 
small  ponds  and  thick  "  bays  "  or  swamps.  To  the  south 
was  the  railroad — parallel  with  the  line  of  march.  Beyond 
the  railroad  were  more  stretches  of  swamp. ^ 

The  Federal  advance  guard  had  encountered  the  Confed- 
erate cavalry  about  mid-day.  The  64th  Georgia  and  two 
companies  of  the  32nd  Georgia  were  sent  forward  by  Fine- 
gan  to  support  the  cavalry,  followed  in  a  few  minutes  by 
three  more  regiments  and  a  battery  from  Colquitt's  brigade. 
The  cavalry  was  spread  out  on  each  flank.  Half  of  the 
Southern  army  had  been  moved  forward  from  its  entrench- 

^  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  303,  307,  331. 

•  Lt.  M.  B.  Grant,  C.  S.  Engineer,  says,  "  The  enemy  advanced  in 
force  .  .  .  one  column  by  the  Lake  City  and  Jacksonville  road,  the 
other  by  the  railroad."  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  301-339- 
Confederate  Military  History,  v.  11,  p.  65. 


288  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

merits/  The  Federal  army  was  slowly  coming  up  and  in 
three  columns  was  preparing  to  go  into  action.  This  was 
the  situation  about  i  :30.^ 

In  line  of  regiments  and  column  of  brigades  the  Federal 
troops  advanced,  the  cavalry  retired,  and  within  thirty  min- 
utes the  cracking  of  rifles  and  the  chud  of  cannon  were 
sufficiently  a  roar  to  indicate  that  the  engagement  had  fairly 
begun.  Finegan  ordered  to  the  front  out  of  the  trenches 
within  the  space  of  an  hour  practically  his  entire  force.  The 
troops  came  up  at  double-quick  and  deftly  deployed,  the 
men  taking  to  the  protection  of  the  trees,  logs,  stumps,  and 
unevenness  of  the  ground  as  much  as  possible.^  General 
Colquitt,  of  Georgia,  led  the  right  wing  and  Colonel  Har- 
rison, of  Georgia,  the  left;  and  soon  both  wings,  without 
much  plan  but  under  orders  of  General  Finegan,  of  Florida, 
who  commanded  the  army,  began  the  work  of  doubling  up 
on  itself  the  Federal  army  moving  forward  in  columns  of 
brigades.* 

The  skirmish  line  of  the  7th  Connecticut  was  ordered  to 
retire  and  uncover  the  7th  New  Hampshire  advancing  on 
the  Federal  right.  It  did  so  and  the  7th  New  Hampshire 
duly  unmasked  was  ordered  to  form  line  to  the  front  by  the 
left  on  the  eighth  company.^  A  tremendous  fire  was  now 
concentrated  on  this  regiment  in  process  of  military  evolu- 
tion.    A  portion  of  the  regiment  in  front  went  wrong, 

•  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  332,  340,  343,  349. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  343.  Gen.  Finegan  said,  "  the  enemy  advanced  in  three 
columns " ;  Lt.  M.  B.  Grant,  "  The  enemy  advanced  in  force  .  .  .  the 
64th  was  soon  engaged  with  the  enemy  who  had  advanced  to  this  point 
in  three  columns,  having  formed  a  third  column  after  crossing  the 
branch  where  the  road  forks." 

» Ibid.,  pp.  332,  340,  343,  349. 

*  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  v.  4,  pp.  77-78.  Gen.  Jones 
explains  the  preliminary  shifting  of  troops  by  both  sides. 

'  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  289,  290,  303,  310,  316. 


THE  OLUSTEE  CAMPAIGN  289 

those  behind  were  thrown  into  confusion,  and  under  a  gall- 
ing fire  the  7th  New  Hampshire  broke  and  ran/  For  the 
rest  of  the  engagement  its  morale  was  gone.^ 

The  8th  U.  S.  Colored  Infantry  occupied  the  front  place 
on  the  Federal  left.  After  crushing  the  Federal  right  wing 
the  opposing  fire  was  deliberately  turned  on  this  body  of 
black  soldiers.  It  held  its  ground  for  a  few  minutes  and 
then  with  a  heavy  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  was  swept 
back  on  the  troops  in  the  rear.^  The  head  of  the  Northern 
army  had  been  simply  battered  in. 

Barton's  Brigade  of  New  York  troops  now  moved  for- 
ward through  the  broken  and  flying  ranks  of  the  ist  brigade, 
only  to  be  engulfed  in  the  same  well-sustained  and  fairly  ef- 
fective fire.*  The  hospital  corps  in  the  rear  of  Seymour's 
army  soon  had  its  hands  full.  "  While  the  roar  of  artillery 
and  musketry  continued  without  intermission  our  wounded 
men  began  to  arrive,"  recorded  a  surgeon, 

part  walking,  some  in  litters  and  others  in  open  ambulance 
wagons,  as  it  were,  first  in  single  drops,  then  trickling,  and 
after  a  while  in  a  steady  stream,  increasing  from  a  single  row 
to  a  double  and  treble,  and  finally  into  a  mass.  In  a  half-hour 
from  the  commencement  stray  shots  passing  through  tall  pines 

*  Battles  and  Leaders  of  Civil  War,  v.  4.  Says  Gen.  Hawley,  who 
led  the  Federal  right  wing,  "  Suddenly  the  7th  New  Hampshire  moving 
in  column  ot  companies  saw  the  solid  gray  line  about  250  yards  ahead. 
A  heavy  fire  was  opened  on  us.  Col.  Abbott  misunderstood  my  order 
of  deployment;  I  undertook  to  correct  the  error,  and  the  regiment 
broke." 

*  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  289.  The  regiment  reformed 
and  did  some  service  on  the  Federal  right  flank  and  center. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  312,  314.  Also  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  v.  4, 
p.  80.  Gen.  Hawley  says,  "  The  black  men  stood  to  be  killed  or 
wounded — losing  more  than  300  out  of  500." 

*Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  299,  301. 


290  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

and  breaking  them  off  at  the  trunk  like  canes  admonished  us 
to  remove  the  depot  farther  to  the  rear.^ 

The  Federal  field  artillery  rendered  little  service  after 
the  first  itw  minutes  of  fighting.  The  horses  were  shot  in 
numbers  and  the  gunners  were  picked  off  the  caissons  and 
killed  at  the  guns.^  In  Confederate  ranks  unusual  coolness 
and  deliberation  was  evident.  For  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes 
the  6th  and  32nd  Georgia  stood  their  ground  without  am- 
munition and  under  fire  waiting  for  ammunition  to  be 
brought  up  on  railroad  cars  from  the  rear.'  The  Confed- 
erate battle  line  was  steadily  pushed  forward,  sweeping 
back  the  Federal  army  which  in  spite  of  reverses  held  its 
ground  stubbornly. 

With  the  approach  of  night — about  4:30 — the  firing 
ceased.*  "  It  was  fast  growing  dark  in  the  pine  woods," 
says  Colonel  Hawley,  of  the  7th  Connecticut.  The  Northern 
troops  were  in  full  retreat  toward  Jacksonville.  Daybreak 
found  them  20  miles  from  the  scene  of  battle.^  The  Fed- 
eral loss  was  1,861  killed,  wounded,  and  missing;  the  Con- 
federate, 946.' 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  299.    Report  Surgeon  Moyer. 
*Ihid.,  s.  i,  V.  35,  pt.  I,  pp.  315-19. 

"  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  35,  pt.  I,  p.  349.  Also  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the 
Civil  War,  v.  4,  pp.  76-80.  General  Hawley  was  impressed  with 
the  "  daring  gallantry  of  the  young  aide-de-camp ",  Lieut.  Hugh  H. 
Colquitt,  of  Finegan's  staff,  "  who  galloped  in  front  of  the  Confed- 
erates, waving  a  battle  flag  and  exhorting  the  men  to  stand  fast." 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  299,  302.  "  The  fight  termi- 
nated at  night,"  reported  Col.  Smith  (C.  S.  A.). 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  300,  305,  309. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  298,  337.  The  details  of  the  casualties  are  as  follows : 
Federal— Barton's  Brigade:  76  killed,  559  wounded,  189  missing;  Haw- 
ley's  Brigade:  71  killed,  301  wounded,  215  missing;  Montgomery's 
Brigade:  35  killed,  196  wounded,  85  missing;  Henry's  Brigade:  5 
killed,    47   wounded,    5    missing;    Hamilton's    Brigade:    16   killed,    49 


THE  OLUSTEE  CAMPAIGN 


291 


The  retreat  was  well  conducted  but  rapid.  A  rear  guard 
was  thrown  back.  The  Confederate  cavalry  was  timid  and 
what  might  have  been  turned  into  a  rout  by  aggressive  tac- 
tics became  the  orderly  withdrawal  of  a  shattered  army. 
Colonel  Caraway  Smith  commanding  the  Confederate  cav- 
alry claimed  that  the  danger  of  ambuscade  prevented  a  pur- 
suit in  the  darkness.^ 

The  battle  of  Olustee  was  confined  entirely  to  the  open 
pine  woods  and  an  old  field  more  than  two  miles  in  advance 
of  the  Confederate  entrenchments.  Most  of  the  Southern 
troops  came  from  Georgia.  The  commander-in-chief  was 
an  old  citizen  of  East  Florida.  A  third  of  the  Federal 
troops  were  negroes.^  Most  of  the  whites  in  the  Northern 
army  came  from  New  England  and  New  York.'    The  ar- 

wounded,  12  missing — totals,  203  killed,  1,152  wounded,  506  missing. 
Confederate — Colquitt's  Brigade:  43  killed,  441  wounded,  2  missing; 
Harrison's  Brigade :  50  killed,  406  wounded,  4  missing — totals,  93 
killed,  847  wounded,  6  missing. 

^  (Jff.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  332.  "  I  sent  orders  to  Col. 
Smith,"  said  Gen.  tinegan,  "to  press  the  enemy  on  his  flanks  and  to 
continue  in  the  pursuit,  but  through  some  misapprehension  the  orders 
failed  to  be  executed  by  him."  P.  353,  Col.  Smith  said,  "  The  fight 
terminating  at  night  and  our  infantry  lines  not  being  perceptible  to  me 
through  the  woods  and  the  face  of  the  country  being  cut  up  by 
swamps,  making  it  very  favorable  for  ambushing  under  cover  of  night, 
I  deemed  it  unadvisable  to  press  forward."  Col.  Smith  was  relieved  of 
his  command  after  an  investigation  because  of  his  action  on  this  occa- 
sion, pp.  352-6.    Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War,  v.  4,  p.  80. 

?  Oif.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  289-90. 

•  Ibid.,  p.  288.  Report  Gen.  Seymour.  The  Federal  troops  were  in 
four  brigades  as  follows :  Col.  Henry's  Mounted  Brigade,  two  squad- 
rons Independent  Mass.  Cavalry,  40th  Mass.  Mounted  Infantry,  and 
Elders'  Horse  Battery  of  ist  U.  S.  Artillery  (4  guns)  ;  Hav/ley's 
Brigade,  7th  Conn.,  7th  New  Hampshire,  8th  U.  S.  Colored;  Col.  Bar- 
ton's Brigade,  47th  New  York,  48  h  New  York.,  115th  New  York — 
all  infantry;  Col.  Montgomery's  Brigade,  54th  Mass.  Colored,  ist 
N.  C.  Colored.  Hamilton's  Battery  of  3rd  U.  S.  Artillery  (6  guns), 
James'  R.  I.  Battery  (6  guns) — total,  5,500  men  and  officers  and  a6 
guns. 


292 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


tillery  fire  on  both  sides,  though  heavy,  did  comparatively 
little  damage,  "  judging  from  the  marks  on  the  trees  "  near 
their  tops.^  The  Southern  troops  took  advantage  of  natural 
cover  as  the  Virginians  under  Washington  in  Braddock's 
army  had  done  a  hundred  years  before.  The  Federal  army 
was  slightly  superior  in  numbers  and  very  much  superior  in 
equipment. 

General  Gillmore's  estimate  of  the  battle  given  after  the 
close  of  the  war  is  probably  a  just  summing-up.  "  We 
know  since  the  close  of  the  war,"  he  said, 

that  there  was  no  disparity  in  numbers  and  we  knew  at  the 
time  that  the  results  were  a  decisive  defeat  upon  the  field  of 
battle  and  the  frustration — as  well  by  the  loss  of  men  as  by  the 
loss  of  prestige  —  of  a  carefully-digested  plan  of  campaign. 
General  Finegan  had  only  about  5,000  men  in  that  battle.  Gen- 
eral Seymour,  5,500.  Our  losses  were  1,800  men  in  killed, 
wounded,  and  missing.  .  .  .  Indeed  our  forces  appear  to  have 
been  surprised  into  fighting  or  attempting  to  fight  an  offensive 
battle  in  which  the  component  parts  of  the  command  were 
beaten  in  detail.  The  enemy  did  not  fight  behind  entrench- 
ments or  any  kind  of  defenses."  ^ 

This  is  a  reflection  on  Seymour.  His  plan  of  battle  might 
have  been  improved  on,  but  certainly  some  of  his  troops 
proved  pretty  poor  stuff  to  match  against  an  aggressive 
and  skillful  enemy.' 

The  Federal  dead  and  most  of  the  wounded  were  left  on 
the  field,  as  well  as  five  field  guns,  i  ,600  small  arms,  400  sets 
of  accoutrements,  and  130,000  rounds  of  small  arm  ammu- 

1  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  341.  2  jfjjd^  p,  290. 

^Ibid.,  pp.  290,  304,  316,  318,  341.  See  also  accounts  in  A^  Y.  Herald, 
February  27,  28,  March  i,  1864;  A'^.  Y.  Times.  M?rch  i,  1864;  account 
from  Lake  City  Columbian  (Confederate  account)  in  N.  Y.  Times, 
March  6,  1864.  Sawyer's  account  in  the  Herald  for  March  ist,  is 
the  best  press  account.     Sawyer  was  with  the  army. 


THE  OLUSTEE  CAMPAIGN 


293 


nition,  the  latter  damaged  by  being  thrown  into  a  nearby 
pond.  The  cannon,  accoutrements,  and  small  arms  were 
distributed  among  the  Confederate  troops.  The  damaged 
ammunition  was  sent  to  the  ordnance  bureau  at  Savannah, 
Georgia,  to  be  made  over.^ 

Olustee  was  a  bloody  check  to  the  Union  cause  in  Flor- 
ida. It  did  not  result  in  the  withdrawal  of  the  Federal 
army  from  the  East  Coast,  but  rather  in  confining  Federal 
lines  to  Jacksonville,  Fernandina,  and  St.  Augustine — 
from  which  points  small  raiding  parties  slipped  out  to 
desolate  and  harry  the  country.*  Six  days  after  Olustee, 
Confederate  lines  had  been  pushed  to  within  a  dozen  miles 
of  Jacksonville.* 

This  expedition  to  Florida  had  failed  in  both  its  political 
and  military  objects — not  so  completely  in  the  latter  as  in 
the  former.  The  Northern  press  hostile  to  the  Lincoln 
administration  did  not  let  the  disaster  pass  without  unfavor- 
able comment — in  fact,  some  journals  criticised  before  the 
disaster.  "  Of  course  no  military  purpose  took  an  army 
into  Florida,"  stated  the  New  York  World,  "as  the  conquest 
of  Florida  would  do  no  more  to  put  down  the  rebellion 
than  would  the  occupation  of  Yucatan  or  Coney  Island. 
The  object  is  political.  Florida  has  been  marked  out  as 
one  of  the  rotten  borough  states  which  are  to  help  to  make 
Mr.  Lincoln  President."  *  The  New  York  Daily  News 
alluded  to  the  "Florida  Tragedy  "  =  (Olustee)  and  held 
Mr.  Lincoln  "  responsible  ".  The  Herald  stated  that  the 
Florida  expedition  was  undertaken  to  bring  the  state  back 

1  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  342-343. 

*Ihid.,  pp.  19-23,  30-33,  35-38,  364-371,  374-376,  381-384,  393-398,  419- 
423,  426,  427-444,  etc. 
'  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  333, 
*  N.  Y.  World,  February  13,  1864. 
"  Townsend  Library  (Columbia  University),  v.  42,  p.  115. 


294  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

into  the  Union  in  order  that  Mr.  Lincoln  might  have  three 
more  delegates  for  him  in  the  nominating  convention  and 
Mr.  Hay  might  go  to  Congress.^  The  Richmond  (Va.) 
Examiner  referred  to  the  slaughter  of  negro  troops  at 
Olustee  and  stated  that  some  of  them  had  been  promised 
farm  lands  in  Florida  for  their  services  in  conquering  the 
state.  ^ 

In  the  Federal  Congress  the  Joint  Committee  on  the  Con- 
duct of  the  War  presented  an  optimistic  view  of  what 
happened  in  Florida  ' — for  a  regular  part  of  the  game  of 
war  and  politics  is  to  minimize  reverses  or  twist  them  into 
victories.  Secretary  Seward  with  his  characteristic  optimism 
believed  that  "  the  defeat  of  General  Seymour  at  Olustee 
in  Florida  was  a  surprise  and  a  disaster,  but  it  was  no  more 
than  that ;  it  drew  neither  serious  consequences  nor  strategic 
embarrassments  after  it."  *  Secretary  Gideon  Welles  of 
the  navy  department  jotted  down  in  his  diary,  February 
27th: 

Seward  told  me,  in  a  whisper,  that  we  l)ad  met  a  serious  re- 
verse in  Florida.  It  is  not  mentioned  in  the  papers.  This 
suppressing  a  plump  and  plain  fact,  already  accomplished,  be- 
cause unfortunate,  is  not  wise.  The  Florida  expedition  has 
been  one  of  the  secret  movements  that  lave  been  projected,  I 
know  not  by  whom,  but  suspect  the  President  has  been  trying 
a  game  himself.  He  has  done  such  things,  and,  I  believe,  al- 
ways unfortunately.  I  may  be  wrong  in  my  conclusions,  but  his 
Secretary,  John  Hay,  was  sent  off  to  join  the  forces  at  Port 
Royal  and  this  expedition  was  then  commenced.  Admiral 
Dahlgren  went  off  on  it  without  orders  from  me,  and  had  only 

*  N.  Y.  Herald,  February  23,  1864. 

*  Richmond  Examiner,  March  12,  1864;  also  N.   Y.  World,  February 
18,  March  i,  1864;  N.  Y.  Times,  February  13,  1864;  February  28,  1864. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebeli,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  292. 

*"  Diary,"  Seward's  Works  (Baker  Ed.),  v.  5,  p.  120. 


THE  OLUSTEE  CAMPAIGN 


295 


time  to  advise  me  he  was  going.  Though  he  has  general 
directions  to  cooperate  with  the  army,  he  would  not  have  done 
this  but  from  high  authority.^ 

The  immediate  results  of  this  expedition  to  Florida  were 
about  as  follows:  the  capture,  confiscation,  stealing,  or 
destruction  of  cotton,  lumber,  timber,  turpentine,  forage, 
live  stock,  food,  clothing,  and  military  supplies  to  the 
amount  of  more  than  $1,000,000;  the  recruitment  of  a  few 
score  negroes  for  the  black  regiments ;  the  capture  of  a  few 
score  Confederate  soldiers  and  eight  cannon;  the  failure 
to  reconstruct  the  state  government  on  a  basis  of  loyalty 
to  the  Union ;  the  loss  of  about  2,000  men  in  a  bloody  battle ; 
the  hasty  retreat  of  the  invading  army.*  But  the  "  Union 
bent  "  politicians  of  East  Florida  did  not  give  up  with 
Olustee.  Nothing  daunted  them.  Like  Dickens'  Mark 
Tapley,  they  found  pleasure  in  misery,  and  like  Mr.  Micaw- 
ber,  they  awaited  for  something  to  "  turn  up  ".  A  full 
delegation  went  from  Florida  to  the  Republican  convention 
at  Baltimore  in  the  summer  of  1864.* 

^Diary  of  Gideon  Welles,  v.  i,  p.  531. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  275-408. 

'  N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  6,  1884.  Delegates,  all  from  East  Florida,  as 
follows:  Buckingham  Smith,  St.  Augustine;  Jno.  W.  Smith,  Jackson- 
ville; C.  L.  Robinson,  Jacksonville;  J.  S.  Sammis,  Jacksonville;  Philip 
Frascr,  Jacksonville;  Paran  Moody,  Jacksonville. 


CHAPTER  XII 

The  Last  Year's  Fighting 

The  result  of  the  fighting  at  Olustee  forced  the  Federal 
troops  in  East  Florida  back  to  the  three  fortified  towns  on 
the  northeast  coast — Fernandina,  Jacksonville,  and  St. 
Augustine.  By  the  first  of  March,  1864,  8,000  Confederate 
troops  from  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Flor- 
ida were  strung  out  in  a  north-and-south  line  along  the 
banks  of  McGirts  creek,^  twelve  miles  west  of  Jackson- 
ville. General  Beauregard  was  in  Florida  personally  di- 
recting the  construction  of  a  line  of  formidable  works, 
three  miles  in  length,  built  of  "  huge  logs  firmly  fastened 
and  covered  with  earth  ".  McGirts  creek  was  a  tortuous 
and  deep  moat  for  this  barricade.  The  fortifications  fol- 
lowed the  course  of  the  creek,  a  stone's  throw  to  the  west. 
The  northern  and  southern  flanks  of  the  line  were  well 
protected    by    almost    impassable    swamps    and    sloughs.'' 

'  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  368.  Report  of  Gen.  Patton 
Anderson  (C.  S.  A.)  commanding  the  District  of  Florida. 

^  Ibid.,  pp.  401-2.  Gen.  Gordon  (U.  S.  A.)  wrote  after  personally 
inspecting  the  works :  "  The  log  part  was  six  feet  wide  at  the  bottom 
and  three  feet  at  the  top.  They  were  proof  against  field  artillery. 
The  stockades  were  composed  of  timbers  from  12  to  16  inches  thick 
with  loop  holes  two  feet  apart.  Their  base  was  protected  by  ear.h 
thrown  up  from  a  ditch  which  ran  along  the  whole  line  of  works. 
There  was  a  salient  or  re-entering  angle  at  about  every  150  yards. 
Two  batteries  in  the  rear  completely  commanded  the  railroad,  and 
in  addition  to  being  very  strong  were  most  elaborately  finished,  hav- 
ing a  sharpness  of  outline  almost  equal  to  masonry.  This  line  ex- 
tended one  and  one-half  miles,  when  a  new  line  began.  Across  the 
296 


THE  LAST  YEAR'S  FIGHTING  297 

Eight  miles  in  the  rear,  powerful  stockades  and  entrench- 
ments stretched  about  the  east,  north,  and  south  of  Bald- 
win. 

By  the  first  of  April,  1864,  the  works  were  complete. 
They  were  constructed  under  the  direction  of  a  skilful  en- 
gineer (Beauregard)  and  seriously  embarrassed  Federal 
occupation  of  Northeast  Florida.  Two  weeks  after  their 
completion  a  change  of  policy  rendered  most  of  this  labor 
useless.  Brigadier-General  John  P.  Hatch,  of  the  Union 
army,  who  commanded  the  Department  of  the  South,  began 
to  withdraw  troops  from  Florida.  General  Beauregard,  in- 
formed by  spies  of  this,  was  forced  to  withdraw  Confed- 
erate troops  from  Florida  as  the  immediate  pressure  there 
was  relieved.  The  Southern  forces  in  Florida  were  hurried 
to  Savannah  and  into  Virginia.  The  Confederate  troops 
remaining  in  the  state  by  the  advent  of  the  summer  of 
1864  were  not  sufficient  to  man  these  breastworks  before 
Jacksonville  and  at  the  same  time  combat  at  other  points 
the  inroads  of  Federal  raiders. 

By  the  middle  of  May,  1864,  two-thirds  of  all  Federal 
and  Confederate  forces  in  East  Florida  a  month  earlier 
had  left  the  state.^  For  the  rest  of  the  war  Florida  was  no 
more  the  scene  of  extensive  movements  by  large  bodies  of 
soldiers.     The  state  was  harassed  by  a  dismal  series  of 

dirt  road  north  of  the  railroad  the  works  were  of  the  same  class  as 
those  described,  except  that  the  stockades  had  platforms  and  em- 
brasures for  field  pieces.  The  works  at  that  point  were  most  solidly 
constructed  and  beautifully  finished." 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  371.  Confederate  spies  re- 
ported that  between  April  8  and  May  9  more  than  9,000  troops  left 
Jacksonville  by  transport.  The  course  of  the  corresponding  Confed- 
erate withdrawal  was  as  follows:  April  14,  nth  S.  C. ;  i6th,  S9th  Va. ; 
16-17,  i8th  S.  C,  a  siege  train,  and  26th  Va. ;  19,  Colquitt's  Brigade  of 
Georgia  troops;  21,  Gamble's  Battery;  23,  4th  Ga.  Cavalry;  29,  64th 
Ga.  Infantry;  May  2,  Naval  Volunteers;  4,  5th  Ga.  Cavalry;  7,  ist 
Ga.  Regulars.    The  destination  of  these  troops  was  Savannah. 


298  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

forays:  night  marches,  surprises,  captures,  skirmishes, 
burnings,  pillagings,  robberies,  murders,  strokes  and  coun- 
ter-strokes in  active  guerilla  warfare,  with  now  and  then  a 
skirmish  which  partook  of  the  character  of  a  formal  battle. 
In  East,  West,  and  South  Florida  the  only  plan  followed  by 
the  Federal  army  was  to  harry  and  desolate  the  country 
wherever  and  whenever  possible.  Detachments  of  mounted 
troops  moved  often  under  cover  of  night  and  usually 
sought  cotton,  cattle,  and  personal  effects.  The  Confed- 
erate plan  of  resistance — if  plan  it  can  be  called — was  to 
dog  the  course  of  a  superior  force  with  skirmishing  from 
cover;  or  to  attempt  by  strategy  and  aggression  to  over- 
whelm smaller  bodies. 

This  last  phase  of  the  war  presents  a  hideous  and  hope- 
less spectacle.  The  early  glory,  glamor,  and  promise  of 
the  struggle  have  faded.  People  know  now  the  significance 
of  the  prayer  "  Good  Lord  deliver  us  from  battle  and 
murder,  and  from  sudden  death  ".  Marauders  move  with 
the  shadows. 

"  Hark,  in  the  crackling  brushwood 

There  are  feet  that  tread  this  way. 
There's  rapine,  fire,  and  slaughter 

From  the  mountains  down  to  the  shore; 
There's  blood  on  the  trampled  harvest 

And  blood  on  the  homestead  floor."  ^ 

As  military  operations  in  Florida  lacked  the  size  and 
definite  co-ordination  of  an  organized  campaign,  a  brief 
chronicle  of  the  principal  movements  and  engagements  will 
furnish,  probably,  the  clearest  and  fairest  statement  of  how 
the  war  was  fought  to  a  finish  in  Florida. 

March  i,  1864.  A  Federal  column  of  cavalry  and  light 
artillery  advances  from  Jacksonville  toward  McGirts  creek. 

*  De  Bow's  Review,  September,  1866. 


THE  LAST  YEAR'S  FIGHTING 


299 


After  five  hours  of  feeble  skirmishing  with  trifling  loss  in 
wounded  on  each  side  it  retires  to  Jacksonville.^ 

March  10.  Palatka — a  village  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
St.  Johns  fifty  miles  south  of  Jacksonville — is  occupied  by 
four  Federal  regiments  supported  by  several  gunboats.  No 
opposition  is  encountered.  The  Federal  troops  fortify 
their  position.^ 

March  12-13.  Th^  Federal  gunboat  Columbine  pro- 
ceeds up  the  St.  Johns  into  Lake  George  where  it  captures 
without  opposition  the  steamboat  Sumter  with  passen- 
gers and  crew.' 

March  ij.  Confederate  cavalry  attack  Federal  out- 
posts near  Palatka,  capturing  two  and  driving  in  the 
others.* 

March  31.  A  second  skirmish  occurs  near  Palatka  with 
firing  at  long  range.  Confederate  light  cavalry  forms  a 
slender  but  fairly  effective  cordon  about  the  town.' 

April  I.  The  Federal  steam  transport,  Maple  Leaf 
en  route  from  Palatka  to  Jacksonville,  is  destroyed  by  a 
Confederate  torpedo.  She  sinks  in  twelve  minutes  with  a 
loss  of  four  men.    The  narrows  of  the  St.  Johns  river  are 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  35,  Pt-  i,  P-  33- 

« Ibid.,  p.  33;  N.  Y.  Herald,  March  17,  1864;  N.  Y.  Times,  March  17, 
1864. 

^  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  374-6.  Reports  of  Brig-Gen. 
T.  Seymour  and  Col.  W.  H.  Barton  (U.  S.  A.),  commanding  expedi- 
tion. N.  Y.  Tribune,  Apr.  i,  1864.  The  Tribune  refers  to  the  capture 
of  several  other  steamers  on  the  Central  Florida  lakes  on  this  same 
expedition,  among  them  the  "  Hattie "  with  several  hundred  bales  of 
cot*  on  aboard.  Official  reports  do  not  contain  these  details.  It  is  pos- 
sible that  graft  entered  into  the  disposal  of  property  captured  on  raids. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  383-384.  Reports  of  Gen. 
Hatch  and  Col.  G.  V.  Henry  (40th  Mass.),  U.  S.  A.,  commanding  Fed- 
eral troops  in  engagement. 

» Ibid.,  pp.  378-9.  Report  of  Col.  W.  B.  Barton  (48th  N.  Y.),  com- 
manding. 


300  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

thickly  planted  with  torpedoes  by  Confederate  engineers 
working  under  cover  of  night.^ 

April  2.  The  40th  Massachusetts  Cavalry  and  two  regi- 
ments of  negro  infantry  move  out  of  Jacksonville  west  to 
Cedar  creek.  Colonel  Guy  V.  Henry  commands.  Severe 
skirmishing  follows.  The  Federal  forces  are  driven  in  with 
eight  wounded.    The  Confederate  loss  is  not  recorded.* 

April  1-2.  A  Federal  detachment  moves  from  Palatka 
south  to  Fort  Gates,  skirmishing  with  Confederate  out- 
posts, plundering,  and  taking  horses  and  cattle.  A  detach- 
ment of  the  5th  Georgia  Cavalry  is  surprised  by  the  Fed- 
eral troops  and  nine  men  are  captured  without  violence. 

April  I.  Late  at  night  Confederate  cavalry  surprise  and 
capture  three  mounted  pickets  of  the  40th  Massachusetts 
Cavalry.' 

April  16.  The  Federal  steam  transport  Hunter  is  blown 
up  by  a  torpedo  near  the  wreck  of  the  Maple  Leaf.  She 
sinks  immediately  with  valuable  quarter-master's  stores. 
One  man  is  drowned.* 

April  16.  Federal  troops  begin  to  evacuate  Palatka. 
They  burn  and  otherwise  destroy  what  they  cannot  carry 
away,  and  take  up  a  new  position  at  Picolata — on  the  east 
bank  of  the  St.  Johns  and  twenty  miles  nearer  Jackson- 
ville. The  site  of  Palatka  is  again  occupied  some  weeks 
later.* 

April  26-May  6.     A  Federal  expedition  supported  by 

^Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  380-381.  Reports  of  Brig-^ 
Gen.  J.  P.  Hatch  (U.  S.  A.)  and  of  Capt.  E.  P.  Bryan  (C.  S.  A.)f 
who  placed  the  torpedo.    Rpt.  Secy.  Navy  (U.  S.),  1864-5,  p.  301. 

*  Off  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  383-4.  Reports  of  Gen.  J.  P. 
Hatch  and  Col.  G.  V.  Henry  (U.  S.  A.). 

'  Itid.,  pp.  381-383. 

*Ibid.,  pp.  387-388.    Report  Gen.  J.  P.  Hatch  (U.  S.  A.). 

^Ibid.,  pp.  387-388.    Rpt.  Seey.  Navy  (U.  S.),  1864-5,  p.  303. 


THE  LAST  YEAR'S  FIGHTING  301 

gunboats  moves  from  Jacksonville  southward,  along  the 
east  bank  of  the  St.  Johns  to  Lake  Monroe.  Two  schooners 
loaded  with  cotton  are  taken  at  Smyrna,  a  few  furloughed 
Confederate  soldiers  are  captured  in  their  homes,  and  the 
country  traversed  is  plundered  of  its  horses,  mules,  cattle, 
and  cotton.  No  opposition  is  encountered.  The  success  of 
the  movement  encourages  plans  for  a  larger  expedition  into 
South-Central  Florida.^ 

May  6-y.  A  Federal  expedition  of  negro  infantry  and 
Union  Florida  cavalry  (white)  enters  Tampa  bay  on 
board  Federal  gunboats  before  daylight.  May  6th.  At 
daybreak  the  town  is  surprised.  "  The  appearance  of 
Tampa  is  desolate  in  the  extreme,"  wrote  the  officer  com- 
manding. "  There  are  very  few  men  in  the  place — hardly 
one  able-bodied  man  between  eighteen  and  fifty  years  of 
age."  The  town  is  pillaged.  Private  citizens  are  arrested 
at  the  town  "  hotel  ".  Three  are  shot  "  while  trying  to  es- 
cape ".  The  fortifications  about  Tampa  are  burned  or 
broken-up.  The  Federal  troops  depart  on  the  gunboats. 
Practically  no  opposition  is  made  by  the  irregular  Confed- 
erate cavalry  in  the  vicinity.* 

May  Q.  The  Federal  steam  transport  Harriet  Weed  is 
destroyed  on  the  St.  Johns  by  a  torpedo.  Six  of  the  crew 
go  down  with  the  vessel.  This  is  the  third  steamer  de- 
stroyed on  the  St.  Johns  in  forty  days.' 

'  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  388-389.  Report  of  Gen.  Wm. 
Birney,  U.  S.  A.,  commanding  the  expedition.  N.  Y.  Tribune,  May  18, 
1864.  The  Tribune  states  that  the  expedition  captured  more  than 
5,000  cattle,  a  large  number  of  horses  and  mules,  and  more  than  $1,- 
000,000  worth  of  cotton.  This  is  doubtless  a  heavy  exaggeration. 
Report  Secy.  Navy  (U.  S.),  1864-5,  PP-  310-16. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  389-391-  Reports  of  Brig.-Gen.  D.  P.  Woodbury  and  Col. 
Fellows  (2nd  U.  S.  Colored  Infy.),  U.  S.  A. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  392.  Reports  of  Brig.-Gen.  J.  P.  Hatch,  U.  S.  A.,  and 
Maj.-Gen.  P.  Anderson,  C.  S.  A.  Also  p.  117,  Rpt.  Maj.-Gen.  S. 
Jones,  C.  S.  A.    Also  account  in  N.  Y.  Tribune,  May  18,  1864. 


302  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

May  ip.  Confederate  cavalry  under  Dickison  surprise 
and  capture  the  Federal  garrison  of  sixteen  men  at  Welaka 
— on  the  east  side  of  the  St.  Johns  south  of  Palatka/ 

May  21.  Confederate  cavalry  under  Dickison  surprise 
and  capture  the  Federal  post  at  Saunders — near  Welaka — 
with  garrison  of  forty-one  men.  The  more  important 
Federal  post  at  Volusia  is  threatened.^ 

May  21.  A  Federal  relief  expedition  of  700  infantry  on 
board  armed  transports  sets  out  from  Jacksonville  at  eleven 
o'clock  in  the  evening.     Its  destination  is  Volusia.* 

May  22.  The  Federal  relief  expedition  is  put  ashore 
opposite  Palatka  and  begins  its  march  toward  Volusia. 
The  gunboats  are  ordered  to  send  up  rockets  if  menaced 
with  serious  attack.  Confederate  scouts  concealed  in  the 
woods  are  watching  the  movements  of  the  Federal  troops. 
Captain  Dickison  picks  out  twenty  of  his  best  riflemen  and 
one  battery  of  the  Milton  Light  Artillery.  Under  cover  he 
follows  the  three  Federal  gunboats  until  after  dark,  and 
at  a  favorable  point  opens  fire  with  the  artillery  and  rifles — 
concentrating  on  the  steamer  Columbine.  "  After  the  sec- 
ond fire  from  our  battery  she  became  disabled,"  he  records. 
"  We  continued  to  pour  canister  and  solid  shot  while  our 
sharp-shooters  kept  a  constant  and  well-directed  fire  until 
she  became  unmanageable  and  grounded.  .  .  .  Her  colors 
were  shot  away  and  her  white  flag  was  hoisted.  The  en- 
gagement lasted  forty-five  minutes.  After  the  engagement 
several  jumped  overboard  and  swam  to  the  opposite  shore 

'  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  393-396.  Reports  of  Brig.- 
Gen.  Geo.  Gordon,  U.  S.  A.,  and  Maj.-Gen.  Sam.  Jones,  €.  S.  A. 
There  is  some  contradiction  in  the  details  of  these  reports. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  393-396 ;  A'^.  Y.  Herald,  June  3,  1864. 

"  Oif.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  394, 


THE  LAST  YEAR'S  FIGHTING  303 

but  most  were  drowned."  The  loss  on  the  Columbine  is 
found  to  be  twenty  killed.  Sixty-five  are  taken  prisoner 
— among  them  the  wounded.  Most  of  the  killed  and 
wounded  are  negro  soldiers  of  the  35th  Infantry,  The 
other  two  Federal  gunboats — Houghton  and  Ottawa — are 
damaged  by  the  artillery  but  escape  toward  Jacksonville. 
No  one  is  injured  in  the  Confederate  command.^ 

May  25.  Long-distance  skirmishing  occurs  between 
Jacksonville  and  Camp  Finegan,  to  the  west.  No  one  is 
injured.  "  I  have  not  men  enough  to  spare  any  without 
more  gain  than  Florida  pines,"  records  the  Federal  com- 
mander.^ 

June  2-^.  A  Federal  expedition,  2,500  strong,  moves  in 
two  columns  by  night  from  Jacksonville  toward  the  forti- 
fications along  McGirts  creek.  Three  of  the  eight  regi- 
ments are  black.  The  small  Confederate  force  retires  with- 
out resistance  and  making  a  detour  attacks  the  Federal 
force  in  the  rear.  The  latter  retreats  to  Jacksonville.  The 
loss  is  a  few  wounded  on  both  sides.  ^ 

Jtine  15-20.  A  Federal  raiding  expedition  of  blacks  and 
whites  moves  from  Jacksonville  to  Trout  creek.  The  raid- 
ers plunder  and  destroy  lumber  and  a  saw-mill  and  collect 
negroes  and  some  personal  booty.     They  engage  a  small 

*  Naval  War  Reds.,  s.  i,  v.  15,  pp.  440-454  (Un.  and  Con  fed.  Re- 
ports). Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  393-398.  Reports  of 
Brig.-Gen.  Geo.  Gordon,  U.  S.  A.,  Maj.-Gen.  Sam.  Jones,  C.  S.  A., 
and  Capt.  J.  J.  Dickison,  C.  S.  A.;  and  Gen.  Orders  no.  25  (Dist.  Fla.), 
C.  S.  A.  Also  account  in  N.  Y.  Herald,  June  3,  1864.  Letter  from 
Hilton  Head.  Rpt.  Seey.  Navy,  1864-5,  pp.  326-37.  Mrs.  Dickison, 
Diekison  and  His  Men,  passim. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  399.  Report  of  Gen.  Geo. 
Gordon,  U.  S.  A. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  401-403.  Reports  of  Brig.-Gen.  Geo.  Gordon,  U.  S.  A. 
(commanding  expedition)  ;  and  Maj.-Gen.  P.  Anderson,  C.  S.  A. 


304  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

band  of  Confederate  cavalry  and  suffer  a  loss  of  one  killed 
and  one  wounded.    The  Confederate  loss  is  not  recorded.^ 

July  2^-28.  The  Federal  army  at  Jacksonville  makes  a 
determined  move  against  the  Confederate  fortifications  on 
McGirts  creek.  It  drives  the  Confederate  garrison  from  the 
breastworks,  burns  the  railroad-bridge  over  the  St.  Marys, 
tears  up  a  section  of  railroad  track  between  Cedar  Keys  and 
Baldwin,  and  captures  twelve  prisoners  and  a  quantity  of 
stores — all  with  a  trifling  loss  in  wounded.  The  Federal 
troops  occupy  Baldwin.^ 

August  3.  Federal  troops  abandon  Palatka.  Confed- 
erate cavalry  capture  without  violence  eight  men  of  the  40th 
Massachusetts  Cavalry  near  Palatka.^ 

August  10-12.  Negro  troops  begin  the  destruction  of 
the  railroad  track  between  Jacksonville  and  Baldwin.  They 
are  attacked  by  Confederate  cavalry  near  Magnolia.  The 
engagement  is  not  decisive.  The  Federal  loss  is  one  killed 
and  four  wounded.    The  Confederate  loss  is  not  recorded.* 

August  15.  Baldwin  is  evacuated  by  the  Union  troops. 
As  the  army  moves  out  in  two  columns  the  village  and  for- 
tifications are  set  afire.  One  column  proceeds  toward  Cedar 
Keys — south;  the  other,  toward  Gainesville — southeast.* 

August  16.  The  Cedar  Keys  column  encounters  no  oppo- 
sition.    "  The  next  morning,"  recorded  the  leader,  "  we 

'  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  410-413.  Reports  of  Brig.- 
Gen.  Birney,  U.  S.  A.;  Lt.-Col.  A.  H.  McCormick,  U.  S.  A.,  and  Maj.- 
Gen,  Jones,  C.  S.  A. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  419-423.  'Reports  of  Brig.-Gen.  Wm.  Birney  and  Lt.-Col. 
A.  H.  McCormick,  U.  S.  A.  Also  see  account  in  N.  Y.  Times,  August 
8,  1864. 

■  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  36. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  426.    Report  of  Brig.-Gen.  J.  P.  Hatch,  U.  S.  A. 
» Ibid.,  p.  36. 


THE  LAST  YEAR'S  FIGHTING  305 

continued  our  route  southward  by  the  road  leading  through 
the  Sand  Hill  Lake  country — a  most  interesting  and  beau- 
tiful region.  We  encamped  at  night  at  Shake  Rug  Cor- 
ner."   The  expedition  ruthlessly  plunders  and  burns.^ 

August  17.  The  column  of  Federal  troops  from  Bald- 
win heading  southeast  make  a  night  march  to  Starke — a 
railroad  junction.  There  it  sets  fire  to  railroad  cars  and 
warehouses  full  of  supplies,  and  promptly  pushes  on  to 
Gainesville.  The  raiders  enter  that  town  just  after  day- 
light. They  begin  to  pillage  the  almost  deserted  homes. 
Outposts  bring  information  that  Confederate  cavalry  is 
approaching,  and  in  a  few  minutes  175  horsemen  led  by 
Dickison  burst  into  Gainesville.  A  savage,  scattered  fight 
follows.  The  Federal  force  is  utterly  dispersed.  Twenty- 
eight  are  killed,  five  wounded,  and  almost  two  hundred 
taken  prisoners.  About  125  escape  to  the  woods.  The 
Confederate  loss  is  one  killed  and  five  wounded.^ 

September  24.  Dickison's  cavalry  menaces  the  Federal 
garrison  at  Magnolia.  The  Federal  troops  throw  up  en- 
trenchments.* 

September  28.  A  Federal  raiding  column  moves  from 
St.  Augustine  and  Jacksonville  southward  into  Volusia 
County — east  of  the  St.  Johns  river.    Cotton  and  cattle  are 

^  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  429-431.  Report  of  Col.  W. 
H.  Noble,  U.  S.  A.,  commanding  expedition.  Gen.  J.  P.  Hatch  (U.  S. 
A.)  said  of  Noble's  report :  "  I  am  sorry  to  state  that  Col.  Noble  did 
not  take  the  route  he  was  instructed  to  take.  His  movement  was  in- 
tended to  be  a  demonstration  against  Lake  City,  to  be  made  on  the 
west  side  of  the  railroad.  He  appears  to  have  kept  almost  entirely 
to  the  east  side  of  the  road." 

'  Ihid.,  pp.  22-23,  427-440.  Reports  of  Brig.-Gen.  J.  P.  Hatch  (U.  S. 
A.) ;  Col.  W.  H.  Noble  (U.  S.  A.) ;  Col.  A.  L.  Harris  (U.  S.  A.)  ; 
Maj.-Gen.  S.  Jones  (C.  S.  A.);  Brig.-Gen.  J.  K.  Jackson  (C.  S.  A.); 
Capt.  J.  J.  Dickison  (C.  S.  A.)  ;  Col.  A.  H.  McCormick  (U.  S.  A.). 

•  Ihid.,  p.  27- 


3o6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

sought  but  very  little  is  found.  No  armed  opposition  is  en- 
countered.^ 

October  4-8.  Federal  raiders  again  enter  Volusia  County. 
They  obtain  some  horses  and  mules  and  a  few  prisoners. 
Again  no  armed  opposition  is  encountered.^ 

October  11- 15.  A  small  Federal  raiding  column  moves 
south  from  Jacksonville,  plundering  orange  groves.  Oper- 
ations are  exclusively  east  of  the  St.  Johns.^ 

October  24.  A  detachment  of  Federal  cavalry  and  in- 
fantry (blacks  and  whites),  fifty-five  strong,  moves  out 
from  Magnolia  going  south.  They  burn  and  plunder  some 
of  the  remaining  homes  in  the  neighborhood.  Dickison's 
cavalry  attacks  them  on  the  flank,  killing  ten,  wounding 
eight,  and  capturing  twenty-three.  "  By  the  protection  of 
Divine  Providence,"  reports  Dickison,  "  all  come  out  safe."  * 

November  4.  The  post  of  Magnolia,  west  of  Jackson- 
ville is  abandoned  by  the  Federal  military.  Empire  Mills 
on  the  St.  Johns  above  Jacksonville  is  also  abandoned. 
Federal  troops  are  concentrated  at  Jacksonville.  ° 

December  24.  Colonel  Noble,  of  the  17th  Connecticut, 
Captain  Young,  of  the  117th  Ohio,  and  Lieutenant  Rice,  of 
the  35th  Colored  Infantry  are  captured  by  two  Confederate 
scouts  while  en  route  from  Jacksonville  to  St.  Augustine.* 

February  5,  1865.    Fifty-two  men  of  the  17th  Connecti- 

1  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  37. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  38. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  38.  "  Over  300  bbls.  were  obtained.  A  part  was  distributed 
to  the  troops  in  the  district  and  the  remainder  shipped  to  Hilton 
Head." 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  38,  446-447-  Report  of  Capt.  J.  J.  Dickison,  C.  S.  A.  The 
Federals  claim  that  only  three  were  killed.  They  admit  a  total  loss  in 
killed,  wounded,  and  captured  of  29.    Richmond  Whig,  Nov.  6,  1864. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebel  I.,  s.  i,  v.  44,  pp.  824-825;  v.  47,  pt.  2,  p.  1006.  Letter 
of  Brig.-Gen.  E.  Scammon,  U.  S.  A. 


THE  LAST  YEAR'S  FIGHTING  307 

cut  leave  Jacksonville  with  forty  horses  on  a  raid  for  cotton. 
Eighty  men  under  Dickison  surprise  this  detachment  at 
Braddock's  Farm,  near  Welaka.  The  raiders  lose  one  man 
killed  and  one  wounded.  The  entire  Federal  command  sur- 
renders.^ 

March  7-12.  An  expedition  of  negro  soldiers  and  civil- 
ians moves  from  Jacksonville  south  into  Marion  County. 
Horses  and  cattle  are  taken  from  owners.  Confederate 
cavalry  engage  the  band,  killing  two  and  wounding  one.^ 

March  17.  Picolata  is  definitively  abandoned.  Its  Fed- 
eral garrison  is  transferred  to  St.  Augustine.^ 

March  19.  Indecisive  skirmishing  occurs  at  Welaka  and 
Saunders  in  Volusia  County.* 

Forts  Barrancas  and  Pickens  were  the  only  points  in 
Florida  west  of  the  St.  Johns  which  were  held  permanently 
after  1862.  Six  miles  from  Barrancas  is  Pensacola.  The 
town  was  then  practically  under  Federal  guns.  This  nar- 
row zone  of  Federal  territory  is  near  the  western  border  of 
the  state.  A  force  varying  from  1,800  to  3,000  men  was 
in  garrison  at  Barrancas.  The  commandant  was  Brigadier- 
General  Alexander  Asboth,  a  native  Hungarian  who  had 
served  under  Kossuth  in  the  Hungarian  Revolution  of 
1848.  With  him  were  several  Slav  and  Magyar  comrades 
in  arms — younger  men  than  he — who  held  commissions  in 
the  Federal  army.  Three  of  them  were  popularly  reputed 
to  be  the  nephews  of  Louis  Kossuth. "^     A  portion  of  As- 

^  Oif.  Rxds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  47,  pt.  i,  p.  i ;  pt.  2,  pp.  i66,  392. 

2  7&i<f.,  p.  I.  «/&jd.,  p.  I. 

*lbid.,  p.  I. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  Nov.  26,  1864.  The  officers  referred  to  as  Louis  Kos- 
suth's nephews  were  Col.  L.  L.  Zulavszky,  Maj.  Ruttsiag  (ist  Fla. 
Union  Cavalry),  and  Lieut.  E.  Zulavszky.  The  other  Hungarians 
serving  under  Asboth  in  Florida  were,  Capts.  Csermelyi,  Gaal,  Mes- 
poros,  and  Rombauer. 


3o8  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

both's  force  was  black,  recruited  partly  from  negroes  in  the 
vicinity.  When  not  engaged  in  the  barbarous  practice  of 
pillaging,  Asboth  was  an  urbane,  pleasant  fellow  with  a 
great  love  for  flowers  and  a  keen  interest  in  dogs  and  fine 
horses.  He  and  his  fellow  Hungarians  were  hated,  dreaded, 
and  condemned  by  the  country  people  of  that  section  on 
the  triple  charge  of  being  "  furreners ",  Yankees,  and 
"  nigger  lovers  ".  Certainly  Barrancas  proved  a  thorn  in 
the  side  of  West  Florida.  From  it,  as  from  Jacksonville, 
raiders  went  forth  to  lay  waste  the  exhausted  country. 
Night  and  day  Confederate  mounted  outposts,  hardly  out  of 
cannon  range,  watched  the  trails  and  roads  radiating  from 
Pensacola  and  Barrancas. 

The  course  of  military  events  in  Central  and  West  Flor- 
ida during  the  last  year  of  the  war  was  as  follows : 

April  2,  1864.  A  small  detachment  of  the  14th  New 
York  Cavalry  engage  in  hand-to-hand  fight  with  a  small 
detachment  of  the  7th  Alabama  Cavalry.  The  Confeder- 
ate cavalry  is  routed,  losing  ten  as  prisoners  and  several 
horses.  The  Federal  loss  is  three  wounded  and  nine  horses.'^ 

May  24.  A  detachment  of  the  14th  New  York  Cavalry 
advances  from  Barrancas  toward  Pensacola  and  meets  a 
detachment  of  the  15th  Confederate  Cavalry  at  the  Big 
Bayou.  The  Federal  force  retreats  after  harmless  skir- 
mishing.* 

June  2^.  A  Confederate  boat  expedition  sets  out  from 
Milton — a  hamlet  near  Pensacola  occupied  by  Confed- 
erate cavalry — for  the  Yellow  river  to  intercept  trade  be- 
tween the  Federal  military  and  "  Union  men  "  (deserters). 
Two  Federal  schooners  are  surprised  and  captured  at  the 

^Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  385-387.     Reports  of  Brig.- 
Gen.  A.  Asboth  and  Capt.  A.  Schmidt,  U.  S.  A. 
*  Ibid.,  pp.  398-399.    Report  of  Brig.-Gen.  A.  Asboth,  U.  S.  A. 


THE  LAST  YEAR'S  FIGHTING  309 

mouth  of  the  Yellow  river.  Another  schooner  is  taken  in 
East  bay  after  a  fight  in  which  three  men  are  killed.^ 

July  21-25.  General  Asboth  advances  from  Barrancas  at 
the  head  of  1,100  men — blacks  and  whites.  The  column 
leaves  Barrancas  quietly  at  night.  Its  ultimate  goal  is 
Baldwin  County,  Alabama,  where  spies  report  opportunity 
to  profitably  raid,  burn,  and  cut-off  the  small  detachments 
of  Confederate  troops  guarding  the  country.  At  day- 
break the  Federal  troops  encounter  360  men  of  the  7th  Ala- 
bama Cavalry  at  the  "  Fifteen  Mile  House  "  beyond  Pen- 
sacola.  The  Confederate  force  takes  refuge  in  a  barricade 
called  "  Fort  Hodgson  "  and  after  a  show  of  resistance  re- 
treats. The  total  loss  is  a  few  wounded  on  each  side.  News 
reaches  Asboth  of  an  overwhelming  force  ahead.  He  re- 
tires to  Barrancas.* 

July  I.  A  Federal  expedition  from  Fort  Meyers — South 
Florida — sails  for  Bayport,  on  the  west  coast  of  Florida 
near  Cedar  Keys.  It  is  composed  of  the  2nd  U.  S.  Col- 
ored Infantry  and  the  2nd  "  Union "  Florida  Cavalry 
(white) — 240  men.' 

July  6.  A  Federal  column  of  blacks  and  whites  advances 
from  Cedar  Keys  on  the  Gulf  into  the  interior.  A  few 
miles  from  the  coast  it  is  attacked  by  Confederate  cavalry 
and  falls  back  to  Cedar  Keys  with  a  loss  of  eight  wounded. 

July  15-20.  The  Federal  raiders  from  Bayport  march 
forty  miles  inland,  successfully  beat  off  weak  attacks  by 
Confederate  cavalry,  plunder  plantations,  burn  houses,  and 
take  or  destroy  cattle  and  cotton.* 

»  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  1,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  404-405-  'Report  Capt.  W.  B. 
Amos,  C.  S.  A. 

*lbid.,  pp.  413-419-    Reports  of  Brig.-Gen.  A.  Asboth  (U.  S.  A.). 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  413-419. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  405-408.  Reports  of  Capt.  H.  W.  Bowers  and  Maj.  E.  C 
Weeks,  U.  S.  A.    N.  Y.  Herald,  Sept.  10,  1864. 


310  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

July  20-2^.  An  expedition  of  400  men  from  the  2nd 
U.  S.  Colored  Infantry  and  2nd  Florida  Cavalry  goes  from 
Cedar  Keys  on  Federal  transports  to  St.  Andrews  bay. 
The  troops  land,  march  forty-four  miles  into  the  interior, 
burn  two  river  bridges,  one  large  grist  mill,  eighty  bales  of 
cotton,  and  a  quantity  of  stores,  and  gathering-up  115 
negroes  and  a  few  horses,  they  return  to  the  coast.  They 
encounter  no  armed  opposition.^ 

July  2p-ji.  A  Federal  raiding  party  advances  from 
Cedar  Keys  along  the  Florida  railroad  track.  It  captures  140 
bales  of  cotton,  burns  the  railroad  bridge  over  the  Wassas- 
see  river — thirty  miles  from  the  Gulf — and  tears  up  the 
railroad  track  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile.^ 

August  7.  A  Confederate  cavalry  detachment  visits 
"  Gonzalez  House  "  near  Bayou  Grand  at  night.  Those  on 
the  Federal  gunboats  on  Pensacola  bay  notice  the  "  bright 
lights "  in  the  house  and  they  open  fire.  The  house  is 
burned.^ 

August  13-14-  General  Asboth  leads  a  raiding  column 
1,400  strong  of  blacks  and  whites  west  from  Barrancas 
across  the  Perdido  river  into  Baldwin  County,  Alabama. 
Heavy  rains  and  marshy  country  delay  his  advance.  He  is 
informed  that  5,000  Confederate  troops  are  in  Baldwin 
County  and  thereupon  retires  to  Barrancas.* 

August  2g.  A  strong  detachment  of  infantry,  cavalry, 
and  artillery  leaves  Barrancas  by  steamer  for  the  nearby 
town  of  Milton.  The  Federal  force  lands  at  Bayou  Mu- 
latte,  Escambia  bay,  marches  to  Milton,  surprises  the  cav- 

'  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  405-6.  Report  of  Capt.  H.  W. 
Bowers,  U.  S.  A. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  405. 

» Ibid.,  pp.  424-425.    Reports  of  Brig.-Gen.  A.  Asboth,  U.  S.  A. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  426-427.    Report  of  Brig.-Gen.  A.  Asboth,  U.  S.  A. 


THE  LAST  YEAR'S  FIGHTING  3II 

airy  guard,  and  captures  four  troopers.  There  is  a  brief 
and  harmless  skirmish/ 

September  i8-Octoher  4.  General  Asboth  leaves  Barran- 
cas at  the  head  of  700  picked  mounted  troops — blacks  and 
whites — and  several  pieces  of  light  artillery.  The  expe- 
dition crosses  Pensacola  bay  and  moves  by  Ancfrew  Jack- 
son's old  military  road  fifty  miles  to  East  Pass.  Here  the 
raiders  take  on  supplies  from  their  steamer  Lizzie  Davis, 
and  then  march  rapidly  northeast  into  Washington  and 
Walton  Counties.     At  daybreak, 

September  2^,  they  surprise  the  village  of  Eucheanna, 
plundering  homes,  gathering  up  horses  and  mules,  and  mak- 
ing prisoners  of  fifteen  private  citizens.  From  Eucheanna 
the  raiding  column  heads  for  Jackson  County.  News  of  its 
approach  reaches  the  town  of  Marianna — the  county  seat 
— several  hours  ahead  of  the  Federal  troops.  Preparations 
are  hastily  made  at  Marianna  for  resistance.  A  few  de- 
pleted companies  of  irregular  Confederate  troops  are  in 
and  about  the  town.  Old  men  and  boys  are  armed  with 
what  weapons  they  can  secure — shot-guns  and  squirrel 
rifles.  A  barricade  is  erected  at  the  forking  of  the  two 
pikes  within  the  town.  There  about  300  old  men  and  boys 
await  the  arrival  of  the  Federal  column. 

The  raiders  come  up  rapidly.  They  sweep  aside  the  bar- 
ricade with  artillery  and  follow  this  with  a  determined 
charge  by  the  2nd  Maine  Cavalry.  The  Confederate  force 
breaks  up.  Some  flee  through  the  town  for  the  Chipola 
river  beyond.  Some  take  refuge  in  the  Episcopal  church 
near  the  barricade  and  continue  the  fight  from  its  windows. 
A  torch  is  thrown  against  the  church.  It  takes  fire.  As 
its  occupants  rush  from  the  burning  building  they  are  shot 

1  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  442.  Report  of  Brig.-Gen.  A. 
Asboth,  U.  S.  A. 


312  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

down  and  fall  amid  the  gravestones  of  the  churchyard. 
Some  of  the  boys  are  burned  to  death  in  the  church.  At  the 
bridge  across  the  Chipola  a  desperate  resistance  beats  back 
the  Federal  advance.  Marianna  is  plundered.  Eighty-one 
prisoners  are  taken/  200  horses,  600  negroes,  and  400  cattle. 
The  Federal  loss  is  thirty-nine  killed  and  wounded.  The 
Confederate  loss  is  not  recorded.  That  night  the  Federal 
column  quits  Marianna  on  its  return  march  to  Pensacola. 
The  prisoners  and  movable  booty  are  carried  along. ^ 

October  18.  200  Federal  raiders  from  Barrancas  move 
up  the  Escambia  river  seeking  timber  and  lumber.  They 
are  attacked  from  the  shore  and  forced  to  retreat  with  sev- 
eral wounded  men.^ 

October  18.  A  small  detachment  of  troops  from  Bar- 
rancas attacks  a  band  of  Confederate  cavalry  in  Milton. 
The  Federal  force  draws  away  with  a  loss  of  one  killed  and 
several  wounded.    The  Confederate  loss  is  not  recorded.* 

October  19-25.  Federal  raiders  operate  along  the  shores 
of  Escambia  bay.  They  meet  with  no  resistance  and  return 
with  20,000  brick.** 

October  25.  A  Federal  detachment  from  Barrancas,  600 
strong,  of  blacks  and  whites,  descends  on  Milton.  It  drives 
out  the  Confederate  cavalry  and  captures  nine  prisoners. 

*  Concerning  the  prisoners,  see  Gov.  Milton  to  Gen.  Maury,  C.  S.  A. 
(Mobile),  Oct.  13,  1864;  Oct.  17,  1864;  G.  T.  Baltzell  from  Milton, 
Nov.  II,  1864,  Milton  Papers. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  37,  443-445.  'Report  of  Gen. 
A.  Asboth,  U.  S.  A.,  who  was  severely  wounded. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  38. 

^  Ibid.,  pp.  445-446.  Reports  of  Brig.-Gen.  J.  Bailey  and  Col.  A.  B. 
Spurling,  U.  S.  A. 

» Ibid.,  p.  38. 


THE  LAST  YEAR'S  FIGHTING  313 

The  loss  on  each  side  is  a  few  wounded,  A  small  quantity 
of  lumber  and  timber  is  captured/ 

January  i6-2p,  1865.  A  force  of  thirty-five  men  from 
the  Federal  blockading  fleet  enters  St.  Andrews  bay,  lands, 
and  proceeds  across  country  to  the  Chattahoochee  river 
with  the  intention  of  capturing  or  destroying  the  steamer 
plying  from  Columbus  (Ga.)  to  Reeve's  Bluff  (Fla.). 
After  sundry  adventures  the  raiders  fail  to  destroy  the 
steamer,  but  capture  fifteen  prisoners,  burn  a  corn-crib,  and 
carry  away  forty-one  slaves.^ 

February  8.  A  Federal  column  of  400  negroes  and  na- 
tive "  Union  "  cavalry  moves  out  of  Cedar  Keys  up  the 
east  bank  of  the  Suwanee  river.  They  collect  negroes,  set 
fire  to  Confederate  and  state  commissary  stores  at  several 
points,  and  gather  up  horses,  cattle  and  cotton.  At  Levy- 
ville  they  are  attacked  by  a  squad  of  fifteen  Confederate 
cavalrymen,  and  lose  two  wounded.  Captain  Dickison  in 
East  Florida  hears  of  the  raiding,  and  at  the  head  of  145 
horsemen,  makes  a  forced  march  across  the  country  to  in- 
tercept the  Federal  troops. 

February  /j.  At  daybreak  Dickison's  detachment — 145 
strong — strikes  the  Federal  raiders — 400  strong  (blacks  and 
whites) — at  Station  Number  Four.  The  fighting  is  at  long 
range  and  lasts  more  than  three  hours.  The  Federal  force 
abandons  much  of  its  property  and  retreats  toward  Cedar 
Keys.  Its  loss  is  five  killed,  eighteen  wounded,  and  about 
forty  captured.  The  Confederate  loss  is  two  killed  and 
five  wounded.^ 

1  Off.  Reds.  Rebel!.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  38.  N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  8,  1864. 
Extracts  from  Mobile  Tribune  of  Oct.  28. h.  The  8th  Miss,  were  doing 
garrison  duty  at  Milton. 

*  Report  Secy.  Navy  (U.  S.),  1864-5,  pp.  354-7, 

•  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s,  i,  v.  49,  pt.  i,  pp.  40-43.  Reports  of  Maj.  E. 
C.  Weeks,  U.  S.  A.  (commanding  Federal  column)  ;  Capt.  J.  J.  Dick- 


314 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


February  20.  A  force  of  several  hundred  Confederate 
troops  with  one  piece  of  artillery  attacks  Fort  Meyers, 
South  Florida.  Nine  Federal  pickets  are  captured  and  one 
picket  is  killed.  Some  of  the  cattle  of  the  Fort  Meyers  gar- 
rison are  driven  off.^ 

February  22-25.  Federal  forces  from  Key  West  and 
Fort  Meyers  are  concentrated  at  Cedar  Keys.  A  descent  on 
St.  Marks  and  possibly  the  interior  of  Florida  via  Talla- 
hassee is  planned. 

February  28.  Federal  transports  with  nearly  1,000 
troops  arrive  off  St.  Marks  bay  in  a  dense  fog.  They  await 
the  naval  force  which  is  to  assist  in  the  operations. 

March  1-3.  The  fleet  is  mobilized  off  St.  Marks  under 
cover  of  a  dense  fog  and  a  landing  is  begun. ^ 

March  4.  At  sunset  a  messenger  reports  at  Tallahassee 
that  fourteen  Federal  ships  are  off  St.  Marks  and  that  500 
men  are  ashore.  This  is  the  first  news.  St.  Marks  is 
twenty-five  miles  from  Tallahassee.  Frantic  efforts  are 
made  to  prepare  for  resistance.  A  few  companies  of  regu- 
lar troops  are  available.  They  are  rushed  to  St.  Marks. 
General  William  Miller  takes  command  at  the  front.  Old 
men  and  boys  swell  the  Confederate  force  to  about 
1,500.  The  student  cadet  corps  at  the  state  seminary 
goes  to  the  front.  To  reach  Tallahassee  from  St.  Marks 
bay  without  a  long  detour  through  the  wilderness  it 
is  necessary  to  cross  either  the  Wakulla  or  St.  Marks 
river.  Confederate  troops  are  strung  out  along  these 
streams  to  check  the  Federal  advance.  The  railroad  is 
watched.     The  bridge  over  the  East  river — between  the 

ison,  C  S.  A.   (commanding  Confederate  column)  ;  and  Maj.-Gen.  S. 
Jones,  C.  S.  A. 

1  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  49,  pt.  i,  pp.  53-54.  'Report  of  Capt.  Jas. 
Doyle,  U.  S.  A. 

'*  Report  Secy.  Navy  (U.  S.),  1864-5,  pp.  351-353- 


THE  LAST  YEAR'S  FIGHTING  315 

village  of  St.  Marks  and  the  Union  troops — is  destroyed. 
Guards  are  placed  opposite  all  fordable  points  on  the  rivers, 
and  breastworks  are  erected  opposite  the  Natural  Bridge 
over  the  St.  Marks.  These  preparations  are  made  during 
the  night  of  the  4th  and  the  morning  of  the  5th. 

March  5.  The  Federal  force  composed  of  the  2nd  and 
99th  Colored  Infantry  and  the  2nd  Union  Florida  Cavalry 
(white) — 900  strong — under  General  Newton,  moves  for- 
ward slowly  toward  the  St.  Marks  river.  Confederate 
skirmishers  retire,  setting  fire  to  property  ahead  of  the 
Federal  troops — bridges,  fences,  barns,  a  grist  mill,  a  saw 
mill,  and  an  iron  foundry.  The  bridge  over  the  St.  Marks 
river  is  destroyed.  The  Federal  column,  guided  by  Union 
men,  moves  up  the  river  toward  the  Natural  Bridge — twelve 
miles  away — by  "an  old  and  unfrequented  road." 

March  6.  Just  at  daybreak  the  Federal  troops  make  a 
determined  and  spirited  attempt  to  force  the  passage  of  the 
Natural  Bridge.  They  become  entangled  in  wide  and  deep 
sloughs  and  are  swept  by  a  heavy  "  cross  fire  "  from  the 
Confederate  breastworks.  With  some  loss  in  dead  and 
wounded  they  withdraw  and  slowly  begin  their  retreat 
toward  the  Gulf.  By  sunset  the  next  day  they  are  under 
the  protection  of  the  fleet's  guns.  The  Federal  loss  in 
this  engagement  is  twenty-one  killed,  eighty-nine  wounded, 
and  thirty-eight  captured.  The  Confederate  loss  is  three 
killed  and  twenty-two  wounded.^ 

The  operations  about  St.  Marks  in  early  March,  1865, 
culminating  in  the  sharp  fight  at  Natural  Bridge  (called 
in  Florida  the  "Battle  of  Natural  Bridge"),  were  practi- 
cally the  closing  conflicts  of  the  Civil   War  in   Florida. 

*  Oif.  Reds.  Rebel!.,  s.  i,  v.  49,  pt.  i.  Reports  of  Brig.-Gen.  J.  Newton, 
U.  S.  A.  (commanding  Federal  troops)  ;  Maj.  E.  C.  Weeks,  U.  S.  A.; 
Special  Order,  no.  49  (C.  S.  A.,  Dist.  of  Florida)  ;  extracts  from  Talla- 
hassee papers. 


3i6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

They  were  the  last  desperate  and  successful  efforts  by  the 
remnant  of  the  fighting  population  to  beat  back  raiders 
from  half-starved  families  and  desolated  homes,  and  to  pro- 
tect the  state  capital/ 

^  Tallahassee  was  the  only  state  capital  in  the  Confederacy  east  of 
the  Mississippi  not  taken  by  force  of  arms  during  the  war. 


BOOK   III 
POLITICAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

"  By  these  recent  successes  the  reinauguration  of  the  national  au- 
thority— reconstruction — which  has  had  a  large  share  of  thought  from 
the  first,  is  pressed  much  more  closely  upon  our  attention.  It  is 
fraught  with  great  difficulty.  Unlike  a  case  of  war  between  inde- 
pendent nations,  there  is  no  authorized  organ  for  us  to  treat  with — 
no  one  man  has  the  authority  to  give  up  the  rebellion  for  any  other 
man.  We  simply  must  begin  with  and  mould  from  disorganized  and 
discordant  elements." — Abraham  Lincoln,  last  public  address,  April  ii, 
1865. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
The  End  of  the  War 

The  surrender  of  the  armies  of  Lee  and  Johnston 
brought  the  struggle  to  an  end.  The  South  was  crushed. 
The  conflict  had  swept  over  the  Confederacy  like  some 
hideous  flood.  A  great  state,  conceived  in  the  excitement 
of  revolution,  crumbled  in  disaster.  Its  blood  and  sinew 
had  been  sucked  under  in  the  maelstrom.  "  A  war  had  been 
fought  for  four  years;  its  scale  of  magnitude  was  unpre- 
cedented in  modern  times,"  wrote  Pollard  in  1866,  and  the 
general  truth  of  the  observation  holds  to-day ;  "  its  opera- 
tions had  extended  from  the  silver  thread  of  the  Potomac 
to  the  black  boundaries  of  the  western  deserts ;  its  track  of 
blood  reached  4,000  miles ;  the  ground  of  Virginia  had  been 
kneaded  with  human  flesh;  its  monuments  of  carnage,  its 
spectacles  of  desolation,  its  altars  of  sacrifice  stood  from 
the  wheat  fields  of  Pennsylvania  to  the  vales  of  New  Mex- 
ico." ^  More  than  a  billion  dollars  of  property  in  the  South 
had  been  literally  destroyed  by  the  conflict.^  A  great 
change  had  taken  place.  Weed-choked  fields,  desolated  gar- 
dens, charred  and  blasted  towns,  ravished  homes  attested  the 
reality  of  the  change.  But  it  is  not  merely  loss  of  property  in 
a  desolated  country  that  clothes  with  eternal  sadness  memor- 
ies of  the  war.  Some  things  cannot  be  thoroughly  vitalized 
by  even  true  statistics.     That  generation  of  Southern  folk 

*  Lost  Cause,  p.  726. 

*  An  estimate  based  upon  the  findings  of  the  Joint  Select  Committee 
of  Congress  in  1871,  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  i,  pp.  102-212. 
See  figures  on  cost  of  the  war,  Rhodes,  U.  S.,  v.  5,  p.  188. 


320 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


had  moved  through  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow.  There  are 
no  statistics  for  such  experiences.  The  palpable  tragedy  of 
violent  death  had  befallen  the  family  circles  of  the  South's 
patriotic  not  merely  twice  as  frequently  as  in  times  of 
peace,  or  three  times  as  frequently,  or  even  ten  times,  but  a 
hundred  times  as  frequently/  Within  the  space  of  four 
years  was  crowded  the  sorrow  of  a  century.  Mourning  for 
more  than  250,000  dead  on  battle-field  or  on  the  sea  or  in 
military  hospitals  was  the  ghastly  heritage  of  the  war  for 
the  South's  faithful  who  survived.'^  These  250,000  came 
mostly  from  the  courageous,  positive,  idealistic  folk  of  the 
Southern  States.  The  majority  of  the  dead  were  young 
men.  Thousands  were  mere  boys.  Verily,  "  a  voice  was 
heard  in  Ramah,  lamentation  and  bitter  weeping;  Rahel 
weeping  for  her  children  refused  to  be  comforted  for  her 
children,  because  they  were  not  ". 

The  land  lay  wrapped  in  the  peaceful  languor  of  a 
gorgeous  spring  as  the  war-drums  ceased.  Many  hopes 
died  forever  with  the  echo  of  those  drums.  Many  strong 
men  wept  like  children  when  they  turned  forever  from 
the  struggle.  As  in  rags  they  journeyed  homeward 
toward  their  veiled  and  stricken  women  they  passed  wearily 
among  the  flowers  and  the  tender  grasses  of  the  spring. 
The  panoply  of  nature  spread  serenely  over  the  shallow 
trenches  where  lay  the  bones  of  unnumbered  dead — sons, 
fathers,  brothers,  and  one-time  enemies  of  the  living  who 
passed.  It  hid  the  ugly  scars  of  conflict  on  many  a  field  or 
river  bank  or  height  or  lonely  forest  road  made  famous  by 
the  blood  and  deathless  valor  of  Americans.    Through  the 

*  Compare  "  violent  deaths "  in  census  of  i860  with  estimates  of 
losses  in  war. 

*  Livermore,  T.  L.,  Numbers  and  Losses,  pp.  1-9 ;  Rhodes,  U.  S.,  v. 
S,  pp.  186-188;  Herbert  in  Photographic  History  of  the  Civil  War,  v. 
10,  p.  148. 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 


321 


Civil  War  the  people  of  the  United  States  progressed  much 
nearer  a  common  or  harmonious  conception  of  what  nation- 
alism was  to  mean  for  them.  But  this  progress  toward  har- 
mony was  made  at  heavy  cost  in  property,  in  human  en- 
deavor, in  blood,  in  tears,  in  mental  anguish,  in  bitter  pre- 
judice long  to  survive.  A  like  amount  of  human  energy 
expended  could  have  destroyed  and  rebuilt  the  pyramids  of 
Gizeh,  or  dug  five  Panama  Canals. 

War  at  best  is  a  barbarous  business.  Among  civilized 
men  wars  are  waged  avowedly  to  obtain  a  better  and  more 
honorable  peace.  How  often  the  avowed  objects  are  the 
true  objects  is  open  to  question.  Avowedly  the  American 
Civil  War  was  waged  that  a  certain  interpretation  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  might  triumph.  To  bring  about  such 
a  triumph  atrocities  were  committed  in  the  name  of  right, 
invading  armies  ravaged  the  land,  the  slave  was  encouraged 
to  rise  against  his  master,  and  he  was  declared  to  be  free. 
"  The  end  of  the  State  is  therefore  peace,"  concluded  Plato 
in  his  Laws — "  the  peace  of  harmony."  The  gentle  and 
reasonable  man  of  to-day  has  not  progressed  much  beyond 
this  concept.  Civilization  itself  probably  never  begot  a 
single  war,  but  many  a  war  has  tested  civilization.  If  war 
performs  any  useful  function,  it  is  that  of  sometimes 
sounding  the  depths  of  the  law — written  and  unwritten. 
Scientifically  considered,  war,  like  personal  crime,  belongs 
to  the  realm  of  social  pathology,  and  many  a  worthy 
historian  will  no  doubt  endorse  the  verdict  of  the  mystic, 
Emerson,  that  "  all  history  is  the  decline  of  war,  though 
the  slow  decline."  Many  men  of  to-day  would,  if  ques- 
tioned, comment  on  such  a  conclusion  unconsciously  after 
the  words  of  the  Greek  philosopher.  "  War  is  eternal," 
wrote  Plato,  "  in  man  and  the  State."  Most  men  of 
to-day,  as  of  yore,  find  glory  in  combat,  and  the  fearful 
dynamic  energy  unchained  in  great  wars  presents  to  them 


322  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

an  alluring  though  ghastly  spectacle.  Tremendous 
changes  take  place  rapidly,  men  and  things  are  put 
to  spectacular  hazard,  contrasts  are  accentuated,  the  com- 
mon mind  is  bent  completely  to  the  accomplishment  of 
a  common  purpose  at  heavy  cost — and  through  it  all  wind 
the  seductive  and  traditional  paths  of  glory.  Though  na- 
tions are  strangled  by  war,  nations  are  usually  born  of  war, 
not  peace.  Though  devils  become  popular  heroes  by  suc- 
cess in  war,  hero  worship  in  its  finer  sense  is  a  cult  con- 
comitant with  war,  not  peace.  The  American  Civil  War 
strangled  the  Confederacy  and  gave  rebirth  to  the  United 
States.  It  brought  forth  a  whole  brood  of  devils  and  also 
revealed  many  a  worthy  hero  to  both  sections.  Seen 
through  the  twilight  of  the  receding  past  a  war  is  apt  to 
take  on  a  character  different  from  the  grisly  truth.  There- 
fore we  have  enlightened  and  eloquent  contemners  of 
peace.  "  We  talk  of  peace  and  learning,"  said  Rtiskin  once, 
in  addressing  the  cadets  of  the  Royal  Military  Academy  at 
Woolwich,  "  and  of  peace  and  plenty,  and  of  peace  and 
civilization,  but  I  found  that  those  were  not  the  words 
which  the  muse  of  history  coupled  together,  that  on  her 
lips  the  words  were  peace  and  sensuality,  peace  and  selfish- 
ness, peace  and  corruption,  peace  and  death."  Hence  this 
man  of  peace  glorified  war  after  no  doubt  a  very  cursory 
examination  of  the  muse  of  history. 

Florida  had  borne  its  full  part  in  this  struggle  which 
strangled  the  Confederacy.  More  than  16,000  of  its 
citizens  had  gone  to  war — the  best  men  in  the  state. 
Approximately  15,000  had  served  in  the  Confederate 
army — 6,700  for  the  entire  war  or  until  disabled  or  killed ; 
6,400  for  the  last  three  years  of  war  or  until  disabled 
or  killed;  and  2,000  for  the  last  two  years  or  less.^    More 

^  These  estimates  are  made  mainly  from  Roberston,  F.  L.,  Soldiers 
of  Florida,  pp.   35-321.     Col.   Robertson  used  the  Off.  Reds.  Rehell., 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 


323 


than  twelve  hundred  had  served  in  the  Union  army.^  Ihe 
voting  population  in  the  state  in  i860  was  14,374.^  Florida 
troops  served  in  all  of  the  greater  battles.  More  than  1,000 
were  killed  outright  on  the  field  of  battle.  More  than  5,000 
were  wounded,  and  many  of  these  died  of  their  wounds. 
Disease  swept  away  as  many  as  bullets.  At  least  5,000 
Florida  soldiers  were  dead  by  the  spring  of  '65  as  a  result 
of  campaigning.^  Some  regiments  were  reduced  to  little 
more  than  squads.     The  2nd  Infantry  began  in  1861  with 

company  and  regimental  rolls,  and  other  miscellaneous  sources,  to 
construct  his  regimental  rosters  and  histories. 

The  troops  enlisted  during  1861  numbered  6,762.  Practically  all  re- 
enlisted  for  the  war  or  were  conscripted  for  the  following  year.  The 
regiments  of  1861  were  as  follows :  ist,  2nd,  3rd,  4th  Infy.,  with  re- 
spectively 1,288,  1,270,  1,089,  and  1,060  men  and  officers;  ist  Cavalry, 
905 ;  three  batteries  of  artillery,  331 ;  nine  "  independent "  or  unat- 
tached companies  (state  militia).  Most  of  these  companies  entered 
Confederate  service  in  1862  when  the  state  militia  was  disbanded. 

1862:  5th,  6th,  7th,  8th  Infy.,  1,193,  1,032,  1,066,  and  1,149  men  and 
officers  respectively;  2nd  (Fla.)  and  isth  ("Confederate")  Cavalry, 
1,266  and  473  strong  respectively;  three  batteries  of  artillery,  295 
strong;  one  independent  cavalry  and  one  independent  infantry  com- 
pany, in  all,  for  1862,  6.477  (enlisted  for  war). 

1863-4:  9th,  loth,  and  nth  Infantry,  722,  1,220,  and  460  respectively; 
5th  Cavalry,  763;  and  ist  Infantry  Reserves,  331,  with  8  or  10  inde- 
pendent or  unattached  companies  of  20  or  30  men  each.  Total  enlist- 
ments for  1863-4,  3,657.  Many  men  enlisted  during  the  last  two  year* 
of  war  who  l.ad  enlisted  during  the  first  two  years  and  had  been  sent 
home  wounded  or  ill.  Thus  there  is  considerable  duplication.  Simply 
adding  up  the  regimental  and  company  rosters  of  Confederate  organi- 
zations, we  find  that  from  Florida  is  a  total  of  12,792  infantry,  3,688 
cavalry,  and  626  artillery — in  all  17,106.  This  is  too  high  because  of 
duplication ;  15,000  is  a  very  conservative  estimate. 

'  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  iii,  v.  4,  p.  1269.  Fla.  furnished  1,290  three- 
year  white  volunteers. 

'Greeley,  American  Conflict,  v.  i;  see  also  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  iv, 
v.  II,  p.  648. 

*  An  estimate  based  on  Robertson,  op.  cit.,  passim,  and  numerous 
references  to  Florida  troops  in  Off.  Reds.  Rebell. 


324  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

1,274  men.  Only  sixty-six  surrendered  at  Appomattox. 
The  5th  Infantry  began  in  1861  with  almost  eleven  hun- 
dred ;  fifty-three  laid  down  their  arms  at  Appomattox — and 
so  on.^  The  others  were  dead,  disabled,  deserters  or 
prisoners. 

The  actual  destruction  of  property  within  the  state  was 
enormous.  The  assessed  value  of  real  and  personal  prop- 
erty, exclusive  of  slaves,  shrank  from  approximately  $47,- 
000,000  in  i860  to  $25,000,000  in  1865 — a  decline  of  47 
per  cent.  Among  the  states  east  of  the  Mississippi,  only 
South  Carolina  and  Alabama  surpassed  Florida  in  the  pro- 
portional decline  of  property  values.  In  addition  to  this, 
the  freeing  of  the  slaves  of  Florida  destroyed  approxi- 
mately $22,000,000  in  values.^  "  The  loss  of  property  is 
universal,"  declared  a  citizen  of  Florida  in  summing-up  the 
situation  about  him. 

All  have  suffered.  Thousands  have  been  reduced  from  afflu- 
ence to  poverty.  The  loss  of  life,  who  can  estimate?  There 
is  scarcely  a  Southern  home  that  is  not  clad  in  mourning  for 
some  cherished  member  of  the  household.  Districts  of  coun- 
try larger  than  areas  of  states  have  been  rendered  desolate  by 
the  hostile  armies  of  invasion.  The  hope  of  Southern  inde- 
pendence so  fondly  cherished  by  many  has  been  lost  forever. 
Political  power  and  influence  have  passed  away  and  the  proud 
statesman  of  the  South  cannot  exercise  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship.   What  more  could  the  bitterest  enemy  ask  or  desire  ?"  ' 

Mr.  Lincoln,  soon  to  rest  well  from  his  arduous  labors, 
referred  with  characteristic  poise  and  humanity  to  the  situ- 

'  Robertson,  F.  L.,  op.  cit.,  pp.  79,  136,  etc. 

*  Based  upon  report  of  Select  Committee,  1871.  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C, 
2nd  s.,  no.  22,  V.  I,  pp.  160-161.  The  proportional  decline  of  property 
values — ej^clusive  of  slaves — was  as  follows:  Ark.,  53  per  cent;  S.  C,  36 
per  cent;  Fla.,  47  per  cent;  Tex.,  31  per  cent;  Miss.,  30  per  cent;  Ga., 
23  per  cent ;  N.  C,  18  per  cent ;  Va.,  12  per  cent. 

'  Letter  of  E.  C.  Cabell,  of  Florida,  in  De  Bow's  Review,  Jan.,  1866. 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 


325 


ation  in  which  the  nation  found  itself  in  1865.  "  Neither 
party  expected  for  the  war  the  magnitude  or  the  duration 
which  it  has  already  attained,"  he  said: 

Neither  anticipated  that  the  cause  of  conflict  might  cease  with 
or  even  before  the  conflict  itself  should  cease.  Each  looked 
for  an  easier  triumph  and  a  result  less  fundamental  and 
astounding.  Both  read  the  same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same 
God ;  and  each  invokes  his  aid  against  the  other.  It  may  seem 
strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to  ask  a  just  God's  assist- 
ance in  wringing  their  bread  from  the  sweat  of  other  men's 
faces,  but  let  us  judge  not,  that  we  be  not  judged.  The  pray- 
ers of  both  could  not  be  answered.  That  of  neither  has  been 
answered  fully.    .    .    . 

With  malice  toward  none;  with  charity  for  all,  with  firm- 
ness in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive 
to  finish  the  work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds; 
to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his 
widow  and  his  orphan,  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and 
cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves,  and  with  all 
nations. 

When  news  first  drifted  into  Florida  that  Lee  had  sur- 
rendered it  was  not  credited.  Telegraph  wires  were  down 
in  most  directions  and  news  traveled  slowly  and  through 
devious  channels.^  General  Sam  Jones  at  Tallahassee  issued 
a  statement  to  his  troops  telling  them  to  pay  no  heed  to  wild 
rumors  of  disaster  probably  put  in  circulation  by  the  en- 
emy.^ Then  followed  Johnston's  surrender,  and  slowly  the 
truth  came  through.  "  We  were  slow  to  believe  it,"  stated 
one  citizen  in  later  years,  "  but  finally  had  to  accept  the  in- 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  47,  pt.  3,  p.  409;  v.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  682. 

'  Jones,  Our  Women  in  War-Time,  chap.  "  Closing  Scenes  in  Flor- 
ida." The  author  states  that  she  has  in  her  possession  this  statement 
of  Gen.  Jones  to  his  army. 


326  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

evitable  "/  Official  dispatches  were  received  from  John- 
ston himself  confirming  rumors  of  what  had  transpired.  It 
became  necessary  for  leaders  of  the  little  army  in  Florida 
to  prepare  for  the  inevitable.  Some  advocated  a  continu- 
ation of  hostilities  in  the  form  of  guerilla  warfare.  But 
General  Jones  and  those  with  him  in  policy  won  the  troops 
over  to  a  more  reasonable  point  of  view,  and  all  prepared 
to  lay  down  their  arms  and  go  home.'' 

"  I  was  startled  yesterday  by  a  cry  from  one  of  the  little 
black  boys  of  '  Yankees !  Yankees ! '  "  writes  Mrs.  Long, 

and  I  found  myself  running  with  the  rest  of  the  children  to 
the  front  to  see  Gen.  McCook  and  staff  enter  to  take  posses- 
sion of  our  little  city  [Tallahassee].  This  Raw-Head-and- 
Bloody-Bones  that  had  been  threatening  us  for  so  long  made 
a  very  modest  appearance;  respecting  the  humiliation  of  our 
people  by  leaving  his  cavalry  some  four  miles  distant.' 

Brigadier-General  McCook  came  under  orders  from 
Major-General  J.  H.  Wilson  to  receive  the  surrender 
of  those  Confederate  forces  in  Florida  under  the  com- 
mand of  Major-General  Jones.  "  Upon  your  arrival  at 
Tallahassee,"  read  the  orders,  "  you  will  take  all  necessary 
steps  to  carry  into  effect  the  terms  of  the  convention  ar- 
ranged by  General  Shemian  and  General  Johnston."  He 
was  specially  charged  to  seize  all  "  agitators  "  and  was  to 
compel  all  editors  of  newspapers  to  publish  their  papers  in 
the  interests  of  peace  and  good  order.  He  was  to  discoun- 
tenance all  public  meetings  and  to  protect  public  property.* 

Setting  out  from  Macon,  Georgia,  on  May  5th  with  five 

*  Richardson,  S.  P.,  Lights  and  Shadows  of  Itinerant  Life,  p.  179. 
»  Oif.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  47,  pt.  3,  pp.  409,  419,  etc. 

•  Long,  Florida  Breezes,  pp.  380-381. 

*■  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  602. 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 


327 


companies  of  the  2nd  Indiana  and  7th  Loyal  Kentucky 
Cavalry,  McCook  reached  Tallahassee  on  the  loth.^  Gen- 
eral Jones,  commanding  all  Confederate  troops  in  Flor- 
ida, had  been  for  some  weeks  in  communication  with  Brig- 
adier-General Vogdes  (U.  S.  A.)  at  Jacksonville — first, 
concerning  the  Sherman-Johnston  truce,  and  later,  after 
news  of  Johnston's  definitive  surrender  (April  26th),  con- 
cerning terms  of  capitulation  for  his  own  force.^  Florida 
was  included  in  the  Federal  military  Department  of  the 
South.  Vogdes  was  the  commander  in  Florida,  but  under 
General  Gillmore,  who  was  the  head  of  the  department.' 
Jones  had  formally  offered  to  surrender  on  certain  terms 
to  Vogdes.*  That  officer  had  hesitated  and  sent  to  Gill- 
more  for  instructions.  Meantime  McCook  had  arrived  in 
Tallahassee  and  the  surrender  was  officially  made  to  him. 
Vogdes  was  angry.  He  considered  McCook's  action  a  piece 
of  uncalled-for  interference,'* 

May  loth,  the  formal  surrender  of  Confederate  forces  in 
Florida  began  at  Tallahassee.  McCook  then  proceeded  to 
St.  Marks.  There  Fort  Ward  was  occupied  and  two  small 
Confederate  gunboats  appropriated.  At  noon,  May  12th, 
the  Union  flag  was  raised  over  Fort  Ward,  saluted  by  the 
crash  of  cannon.     At  Tallahassee,  on  the  20th,  amid  cere- 

1  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  943. 
^  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  47,  pt.  3,  pp.  318-319,  409,  866. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  538.  West  Florida — that  part  of  the  state  west  of  the 
Apalachicola  river — belonged  to  a  different  military  department  from 
that  part  east  of  the  river,  until  the  order  of  June  7,  1865,  when  the 
state  of  Florida  became  a  department  with  headquarters  at  Talla- 
hassee. It  was  in  the  Military  Division  of  the  Tennessee.  Gen.  A.  A. 
Humphreys  was  in  command.  On  June  27,  Florida  became  part  of  the 
Division  of  the  Gulf,  with  Gen.  J.  G.  Foster  in  command.  See  p.  668; 
V.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  964. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  409 ;  v.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  682. 

»  Ibid.,  pp.  322,  409,  420,  444,  48s,  494,  499,  538;  V.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  932. 


328  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

mony  and  acclaim,  the  flag  of  the  Union  went  up  over  the 
state  house/ 

The  paroUing  of  Confederate  soldiers  was  accomplished 
rapidly.  The  military  of  the  Confederacy  melted  away. 
The  armed  strife  was  over.  Four  years  before  in  this  same 
little  town  of  Tallahassee  wild  shouting  had  burst  forth 
when  Florida  had  gone  out  of  the  Union,  and  now  thou- 
sands were  turning  their  faces  toward  home,  realizing  that 
their  cherished  cause  had  left  "  naught  but  grief  and  pain 
for  promised  joy  ".  But  many  were  not  sorrowful.  De- 
feat is  bitter,  but  "  hope  springs  eternal  in  the  human 
breast ".  Defeat  had  not  "  made  *  all  our  sacred  things 
profane  '  ",  wrote  Pollard  in  1866.  "  The  war  has  left  the 
South  its  own  memories,  its  own  heroes,  its  own  tears,  its 
own  dead.  Under  these  traditions  sons  will  grow  to  man- 
hood and  lessons  sink  deep  that  are  learned  from  the  lips 
of  widowed  mothers."  ^  The  war  had,  in  fact,  created  a 
tremendous  and  glorious  tradition  which  some  even  then 
were  vaguely  and  proudly  conscious  of.  The  army  life  had 
hardened  thousands  to  misfortune  and  misery  so  that  they 
took  a  lost  cause  very  much  as  they  did  a  lost  breakfast. 
And,  finally,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  mass  of  Con- 
federate veterans  were  simple,  poor  countrymen  whose 
hearts  looked  up  at  the  very  thought  of  getting  home 
again.  Thus,  many  a  veteran,  surrounded  by  misfortune, 
was  probably  more  merry  than  sad. 

General  McCook  received  the  surrender  in  Florida  of 
about  8,000  Confederate  soldiers.  6,000  of  them  were  par- 
oled at  Tallahassee.  The  Confederate  property  acquired  at 
the  state  capital  consisted  of  some  5,000  stand  of  arms,  40 

^  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  49,  pt.  2,  pp.  747,  949.  'Report  Gen.  Mc- 
Cook. Long,  Florida  Breezes,  pp.  380-381.  Jones,  Our  Women  in  War- 
Titne — "  Last  Scenes  in  Florida."    N.  Y.  Times,  June  16,  1865. 

*  Lost  Cause,  p.  751. 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 


329 


cannon,  2,000  sets  of  accoutrements,  10,000  rounds  of  ar- 
tillery ammunition,  121,000  rounds  of  small-arm  ammuni- 
tion, 63,000  pounds  of  lead,  2,000  pounds  of  nitre,  170,000 
pounds  of  bacon,  300  barrels  of  sugar,  7,000  bushels  of 
corn,  1,200  head  of  cattle,  and  a  quantity  of  other  supplies/ 
Small  forces  of  Confederate  and  state  troops  surrendered 
and  were  paroled  at  different  points  within  the  state  during 
the  next  month — at  Baldwin,  Waldo,  Lake  City,  Tampa, 
Bayport,  and  Bronson.^  The  terms  of  capitulation  ex- 
tended to  all  troops  in  Florida  were  essentially  the  same  as 
those  of  Sherman  to  Johnston.  The  officers  retained  their 
side  arms,  baggage  and  horses.  Those  privates  who  had 
horses  were  allowed  to  take  them  away.^  "  Many  of  the 
horses  and  mules  were  exchanged  for  corn  and  forage," 
reported  McCook,  "  and  others  were  loaned  to  citizei^s 
subject  to  the  order  of  the  Federal  authorities  ".* 

The  Federal  army  of  occupation  arrived  in  time  to  pre- 
vent much  of  the  Confederate  government's  property  in 
food  and  cotton  being  seized  by  the  people.  Over  the 
South  generally  when  it  became  known  that  the  Confed- 
eracy had  fallen  people  sought  Confederate  store  houses. 
Mobs  broke  them  open   and   appropriated   the  property." 

^  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  49,  pt.  2,  pp.  932,  944.  A'^.  Y.  Times,  June 
6,  1865. 

2  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  47,  pt.  3,  pp.  507,  514;  v.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  984. 

'  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  944. 

*  Ibid.,  s.  i,  V.  47,  pt.  3,  pp.  444,  494.  See  certificate  of  parole,  pp. 
485-486. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  875.  Gen.  Jones  to  Gov.  Allison,  May  9,  1865.  "  So  many 
lawless  people  in  various  parts  of  this  military  district  [Florida]  are 
taking  possession  by  violence  of  the  Government  property  of  every 
description  that  I  have  to  request  that  you  will  call  out  such  militia 
forces  as  is  necessary  in  every  county  where  there  is  Government 
property.  Under  the  Military  convention  agreed  upon  by  Gen.  John- 
ston and  Maj.-Gen.  Sherman  the  property  may  be  appropriated  to  re- 


330  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

If  the  average  citizen  thus  engaged  reasoned,  his  mental 
processes  were  no  doubt  simple — probably  thus :  What  was 
the  Confederacy's  was  once  the  property  of  the  Southern 
people  and  will  now  become  the  property  of  a  hostile  gov- 
ernment; I  need  the  food  and  cotton  and  I  hate  the  hostile 
government  and  the  rest  of  the  Yankees;  therefore  I  will 
get  what  is  mine  while  I  can.  Much  of  the  tax-in-kind  or 
"  tithe  "  cotton,  the  property  of  the  one-time  Confederacy, 
had  never  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  the  planters.  Some 
people  held  Confederate  bonds  secured  by  cotton.  Taking 
Confederate  cotton  presented  an  extra-legal  method  of 
making  good  their  securities.^  "  People  apparently  honest 
in  other  respects  seem  to  think  it  entirely  legitimate  to  steal 
cotton,"  wrote  McCook  from  Tallahassee.^ 
•  Federal  treasury  agents  were  scouring  the  country  for 
Confederate  cotton.  With  the  aid  of  the  military  these 
officials  enforced  the  confiscation  of  such  property.^  5,460 
bales  were  seized  by  them  in  Florida  during  the  first  few 
months  following  the  war's  ending,*  which  at  the  prevailing 
market  price  of  cotton  then  represented  more  than  $800,000 
gold.     "  I  got  back  to  Apalachicola  (Florida)  in  the  sum- 

lieve  the  wants  of  the  needy.  ...  In  the  meantime  it  is  our  duty  to 
carry  out  the  Convention  in  good  faith  and  protect  the  public  prop- 
erty," etc.    See  also  p.  499. 

*  See  case  of  Asa  Johnston  vs.  Benj.  D.  Wright,  Executor,  Florida 
Reports,  v.  12,  pp.  478-96,  for  some  references  to  this  point  of  view. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  944. 

*  Ihid.,  s.  i,  v.  47,  pt.  3,  pp.  739,  943.  "  A  memorandum  of  all  cotton 
in  and  about  Tallahassee,  etc.  .  .  .  was  taken  with  the  names  of  claim- 
ants, where,  when,  and  by  whom  stored.  Also  the  marks  on  the  co;ton. 
As  soon  as  the  schedule  can  be  made  it  will  be  forwarded  to  the  War 
'Department."  Report  of  Gen.  McCook.  Also  v.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  931.  Also 
N.  Y.  Times,  June  16,  1865,  and  Aug.  i,  1865.  Correspondent  of 
Times  refers  to  "  quantities  "  of  Confederate  cotton  at  R.  R.  depots. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  190,  p.  10. 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 


331 


mer  of  1865,"  stated  a  veteran  of  the  Confederate  army. 
■  I  was  employed  by  Epping,  Watson  and  Company  as  out- 
door clerk.  Very  soon  U.  S.  treasury  agents  in  their  search 
for  Confederate  cotton  became  very  obnoxious.  There  was 
much  rascality.  Cotton  sold  at  a  high  price.  Everybody 
was  stealing,  so  I  saw  no  harm  in  getting  in  the  swim  too. 
All  overweight  of  bales  we  reserved  for  ourselves.  By  the 
end  of  the  season  I  had  seventeen  bales  to  my  credit."  ^ 
Cotton  buyers  from  the  North  were  glad  to  see  the  Govern- 
ment dispossessed.  A  speculative  filip  was  given  to  reviv- 
ing business.  Thousands  of  bales  in  the  hands  of  private 
owners  were  tediously  collected  at  Florida  seaports.  In 
such  an  atmosphere  of  competition  and  confusion  scound- 
rels found  ample  opportunity.  Many  of  the  newly-ap- 
pointed civil  officials  of  the  United  States  Government 
proved  to  be  shameless  grafters.  The  thievery  practiced 
by  them — treasury  agents  and  marshals — became  so  notor- 
ious that  it  was  openly  condemned  by  their  more  honest  or 
unsuccessful  brother  officials.  Treasury  agents  and  mar- 
shals seized  property  for  the  non-payment  of  taxes,  and 
then  sold  it  to  themselves  at  prices  which  they  wished  to 
pay.* 

The  Federal  military  took  over  the  management  of  tele- 
graph lines  and  railroads  within  the  state  and  for  a  time 
directed  their  operation.'     Repairs  were  made  by  the  gov- 

'  Personal  interview  by  me  with  a  citizen  of  West  Florida.  His 
statement  of  conditions  was  in  substantial  accord  with  testimony  of 
others. 

»  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  47,  pt.  3,  pp.  276,  581,  etc.  N.  Y.  World, 
May  4,  1865. 

»  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  47.  pt.  3,  p.  581.  A''.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  i, 
1865.  "  The  Jacksonville  and  Tallahassee  and  the  Fernandina  and 
Cedar  Keys  R.  R.  is  in  the  hands  of  U.  S.  Marshal  Remington  in  a  pro- 
ceeding '  in  re '  for  confiscation.  The  marshal  is  running  the  train  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  military  and  the  people." 


332  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

ernment  and  charged  to  the  roads. ^  The  people  of  Flor- 
ida were  informed  by  proclamation  that  they  were  at  lib- 
erty to  carry  on  their  trade  as  usual,  and  to  purchase  sup- 
plies where  they  wished.  Farmers  were  encouraged  to 
bring  their  produce  into  the  towns.  Merchants  desirous  of 
opening  stores  were  required  to  take  the  prescribed  oath 
of  allegiance  and  to  conform  to  the  sundry  regulations  of 
the  Federal  treasury  department.  Lawyers,  physicians,  and 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  were  required  to  take  the  oath,  and 
were  counseled  by  the  military  to  use  their  best  efforts  to 
bring  the  people  back  to  a  hearty  support  of  the  United 
States  Government.  "  The  habit  of  speaking  of  the  Gen- 
eral Government  as  Federal,"  ran  an  order,  "  and  placing 
it  in  antagonism  to  the  so-called  Confederacy,  as  two  inde- 
pendent and  recognized  powers,  is  calculated  to  mislead  the 
people  and  must  be  discontinued."  ^  By  mid-summer  the 
national  postal  department  had  tri-weekly  mails  circulating 
over  the  state.^  Actual  government  in  Florida  had  come 
to  be  a  matter  for  the  military  alone,  with  the  paternalism 
characteristic  of  such  rule. 

The  state  government  soon  ceased  to  exist.  Upon  the 
surrender  of  General  Jones,  Governor  Allison  appointed  five 
commissioners  to  proceed  to  Washington  for  an  interview 
with  the  President  personally  on  the  political  relations  of 
Florida  to  the  Union.*    He  asked  General  Wilson  for  pass- 

»  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  34,  p.  190.  The  Ala.  and  Fla.  R.  R. 
Co.  was,  at  the  end  of  1866,  $41,177.72  in  debt  to  the  U.  S. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  i,  v.  47,  pt.  3,  pp.  538,  623. 
»  N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  i,  5,  1865. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  748.  The  commissioners  were 
D.  L.  Yulee  (ex-U.  S.  Senator  and  secession  leader),  J.  Wayles 
Baker  (ex-Confederate  States  Senator),  M.  D.  Papy,  H.  G.  Live,  and 
J.  G.  L.  Baker.  Their  formal  object  was  declared  to  be  to  make 
"known  to  the  Executive  Authorities  of  the  United  Sta'es  the  steps 
in   progress   for  harmonizing  the  government  of  this  state  with  the 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 


333 


ports  to  Washington.  The  governor  also  issued  a  procla- 
mation calling  the  members  of  the  legislature  to  assemble 
in  extraordinary  session,  June  5th,  and  calling  for  an  elec- 
tion of  a  governor  on  the  7th/ 

The  loyal  Union  element  in  Florida  quickly  showed  its 
hostility  to  any  such  easy  and  reasonable  political  pro- 
cedure as  this  foreshadowed.  "  A  friend  from  Talla- 
hassee informs  me,"  wrote  a  locally  prominent  Union  man 
to  President  Johnson  on  May  21st,  "that  the  late  acting 
rebel  Governor  has  proposed  to  Gen.  McCook  to  wheel  the 
state  back  into  the  Union  line  just  as  she  stands  with  her 
rebel  officers  and  crew.  I  know  this  is  not  your  policy."  ^ 
Nor  was  it.  Johnson  and  a  dominant  Northern  public  opin- 
ion would  purge  Southern  governments  by  destroying 
them. 

General  McCook,  at  Tallahassee,  was  undecided  as  to  how 
to  act  toward  the  state  government.  "  Shall  I  permit  the 
Legislature  to  meet  or  request  him  [the  Governor]  to  with- 
draw the  call  ?  "  he  asked  of  General  Wilson  at  District 
Headquarters  in  Macon,  Ga.  He  sent  this  query  on  the 
same  day  that  Governor  Allison  requested  passports  for  his 
commissioners  to  Washington.'  The  reply  which  came  was 
summary :  "  You  will  not  recognize  the  so-called  Governor 
or  any  officers  purporting  to  act  under  his  orders.  .  .  . 
Should  they  not  desist  from  exercising  their  usurped  power 

constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  of  conferring  generally  with 
the  public  authorities  of  the  Federal  Government  concerning  our  af- 
fairs." See  also  Executive  Order  and  copies  of  various  letters, 
Milton  Papers,  May  12,  1865.  Gov.  Allison  addressed  letters  to  Gov. 
Vance,  of  North  Carolina,  Gov.  McGrath,  of  South  Carolina,  and 
Gov.  Brown,  of  Georgia,  notifying  them  of  his  appointing  a  commis- 
sion and  suggesting  that  they  follow  Florida's  example. 
^  Proclamation  of  Governor,  Milton  Papers,  May  13,  1865. 

*  Harris  to  Johnson,  Key  West,  May  21,  1865,  Johnson  Papers. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  49,  pt.  2,  pp.  747-/^. 


334  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

you  will  arrest  them  and  send  them  under  guard  to  this 
place."  ' 

General  Gillmore,  in  general  orders  of  May  14th,  declared 
the  acts  of  the  governors  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and 
Florida  to  be  null  and  void  and  they  themselves  guilty  of 
sundry  acts  of  treason  against  the  United  States.^  On 
May  24th,  martial  law  was  declared  by  military  proclama- 
tion to  be  the  only  law  existing  in  Florida.  All  proceedings 
at  law,  or  acts  of  the  Confederate  government,  or  of  the 
government  of  Florida  were  declared  null  and  void.  Any 
person  who  should  attempt  to  enforce  any  measure  of  these 
governments  would,  if  apprehended,  be  tried  and  punished 
by  military  commission.^  The  election  of  a  governor  and 
the  meeting  of  the  legislature  were  sternly  forbidden  by 
McCook.*  Governor  Allison  abandoned  the  idea  of  sending 
representatives  to  Washington.'^  Thus  the  commonwealth 
government  as  organized  under  the  Confederacy  passed 
away.  However,  the  local  officials  throughout  the  state — 
judges,  clerks,  justices  of  the  peace,  and  various  county  and 
town  officers — were  advised  by  the  military  commanders  to 
continue  for  the  present  in  office  and  to  guard  the  public 
archives  and  other  records  in  their  possession. 

Few  arrests  were  made  by  the  military  for  political  of- 
fenses. The  only  prominent  cases  in  Florida  were  those 
of  Mr.  Yulee  (ex-U.  S.  Senator),  Mr.  Mallory  (ex-Secre- 
tary of   the  Confederate  navy),   and   Governor  Allison.* 

^  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  47,  pt.  3,  p.  538.  Milton  Papers,  May  .6. 
1865. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  i,  v.  47,  pt.  3,  p.  498,  General  Order  63. 

•  Ibid.,  p.  322.  *  Ibid.,  p.  546. 

*  Milton  Papers,  May  19,  1865. 

•  It  was  generally  believed  that  Jeff.  Davis  virould  try  to  escape 
through  Florida.  Rumors  of  his  presence  in  Florida  were  afloat  some 
weeks  before  his  capture  elsewhere.  See  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  49, 
pt.  2,  pp.  405,  706,  715. 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR  335 

These  men  had  openly  counseled  at  the  end  of  the  war  loyal 
and  immediate  compliance  with  the  orders  of  the  Federal 
Government/  They  were  treated,  however,  as  dangerous 
men,  arrested,  and  imprisoned  in  Fort  Pulaski,  Georgia.^ 

In  October,  1865,  Provisional-Governor  Marvin,  of 
Florida,  made  application  to  the  President  for  their  par- 
don. Of  Yulee  he  wrote :  "  He  is  President  of  a  railroad 
company  whose  interests  are  sufifering  for  want  of  his 
supervision  and  care  " ;  of  Mallory :  "  He  has  the  gout 
badly  which  the  dampness  of  the  prison  exasperates  " ;  and 
of  Allison  he  stated :  "  He  is  not  a  bad  man  ".  The  Fed- 
eral Judge  Advocate  General  was  thoroughly  exasperated 
with  the  governor's  homely  reasoning.  "These  suggestions 
for  clemency,"  he  declared,  "  totally  ignore  the  criminality 
of  these  men."  * 

The  pasts  of  Yulee  and  Mallory  were  probed  into  by 
agents  of  the  Federal  government.  On  December  loth, 
1865,  General  Asboth,  at  Pensacola,  wrote  Secretary  Stan- 
ton: 

The  Tallahassee  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Herald,  while 
urging  upon  President  Johnson  that  the  clemency  already 
granted  to  several  prominent  Southern  leaders  be  extended 
also  to  Mallory,  Yulee  and  other  distinguished  rebel  gentle- 
men of  Florida,  says  in  behalf  of  Mr.  Mallory  "  that  he  was 
very  anxious  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  to  prevent  disruption 
between  the  people  of  the  South  and  the  Government  of  the 

>  Yulee  to  Merrick,  May  30,  1865,  Johnson  Papers;  Off.  Reds.  RebelL, 
s.  i,  V.  47,  pt.  3,  pp.  546,  581,  620,  630,  645;  V.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  747.  N.  Y. 
World,  Nov.  10,  1865. 

*  Yulee  was  perhaps  the  worst  treated  of  the  three.  His  case  reached 
the  attention  of  President  Johnson.  See  Yulee  to  Merrick,  May  30, 
1865,  Johnson  Papers. 

8  Rpt.  of  Judge  Advocate  General  Holt,  Nov.  23,  1865,  Off.  Reds.  Re- 
bell.,  s.  ii,  v.  8,  p.  862. 


336  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

United  States,  and  was  bitterly  assailed  in  his  own  state  as 
having  prevented  the  capture  of  Fort  Pickens  when  it  might 
have  been  taken  at  any  time."  These  statements  are  all  false. 
While  in  command  in  West  Florida  I  visited  Tallahassee,  and 
found  in  the  State  archives  the  most  treasonable  dispatches 
sent  by  Mallory  to  the  Florida  State  Convention  in  January, 
i86i.^ 

If  embittered  Northern  politicians  could  have  worked 
their  will,  Mallory,  Yulee  and  probably  Allison  would  have 
been  tried  and  executed  for  treason.  "  Atonement  is  yet  to 
be  made,"  stated  the  Judge  Advocate  General,  "  for  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives."  He  believed  that  "  pun- 
ishment is  yet  to  be  visited  on  the  rebellion,"  and  he  con- 
cluded logically  that  "  it  would  seem  that  the  original  con- 
spirators who  excited  and  organized  the  movement  should 
be  first  arraigned  and  tried.  To  this  class  Yulee  and  Mallory 
unquestionably  belong.  The  experience  of  the  world  has 
shown  that  great  crimes  never  have  been  and  never  can  be 
repressed  without  punishment."  ^  A  calmer  and  juster 
policy  was  followed,  however,  and  after  several  months  of 
imprisonment  Yulee,  Mallory,  and  Allison  were  liberated. 

"  In  my  intercourse  with  the  citizens  and  surrendered 
soldiers  of  this  Florida  command  I  found  only  the  most 
entire  spirit  of  submission  to  my  authority,  and  in  a  ma- 
jority of  instances  an  apparent  cheerful  acquiescence  to  the 
present  order  of  things,"  wrote  General  McCook  from  Talla- 
hassee; yet  the  Federal  military  in  Florida  quickly  put  a 
muzzle  on  a  free  expression  of  opinion  in  print  or  other- 
wise. Although  McCook  had  been  instrumental  in  destroy- 
ing the  state  government  he  declared  that  he  "  had  no  col- 
lision with  any  of  the  authorities  except  the  ecclesiastical  ".' 

1  Asboth  to  Stanton,  Dec.  lo,  1865,  Oif.  Reds.  Rebell,  s.  ii,  v.  8,  p.  833. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  864  »  Ibid.,  s.  i,  v.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  944. 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR  337 

While  in  Tallahassee  he  saw  fit  to  threaten  the  pastor  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  with  severe  punishment  if  he  did  not 
pray  in  future  for  the  President  of  the  United  States.  Mc- 
Cook  records :  "  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  Christianize  him 
if  possible  and  succeeded  in  convincing  him  of  the  error  of 
his  ways  by  a  communication.  He  prayed  for  the  President 
of  the  United  States  that  afternoon."  ^  It  does  not  take 
much  effort  to  realize  the  amount  of  internal  cursing  in 
such  enforced  praying. 

In  Quincy  "  the  little  Captain  issued  an  order  that  no 
rebel  should  preach  unless  he  took  the  oath  of  allegiance 
and  prayed  for  the  President  of  the  United  States,"  records 
a  certain  obstreperous  Baptist  divine.  "  I  was  the  only 
preacher  then  present  in  the  town.  Colonel  Livingston,  a 
true  Methodist,  came  to  me  and  advised  me  to  take  the  oath 
and  let  us  have  preaching.  I  told  him  that  I  did  not  feel  like 
it  and  did  not  want  to  do  it.  Saturday  afternoon  came 
and  the  Colonel  called  again.  At  last  I  consented  and  we 
went  around  again  to  the  Captain's  office.  I  informed  him 
that  I  had  come  to  take  the  oath  but  I  would  do  it  with  a 
mental  reservation."  ^ 

One  Southern  Episcopalian  in  Tallahassee  was  sent  to  the 
guard-house  because  he  had  made  remarks  construed  as 
treasonable.  He  complicated  matters  by  saying  that  "  this 
is  a  peace  that  passeth  all  understanding  ".' 

Government  in  Florida  was,  in  fact,  for  the  time  a  mili- 
tarism pure  and  simple — and  some  of  the  native  whites  got 
into  trouble  because  they  could  not  or  would  not  realize  the 
situation.     Federal  troops  were  distributed  over  the  state. 

1  Off.  Reds.  Rehell,  s.  ii,  v.  8,  pp.  862,  945.  N.  Y.  Times,  June  j6, 
1865. 

'  Richardson,  S.  P.,  Lights  and  Shadows  of  Itinerant  Life,  p.  183. 

•  Long,  Florida  Breezes,  p.  381. 


338  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

By  the  middle  of  June  each  town  and  village  had  its  com- 
pany or  squad  of  soldiers/  The  policy  at  first  was  to  es- 
tablish white  garrisons  in  Florida.  "  I  think  should  it  be 
necessary  to  garrison  any  of  these  points,  it  would  be  well  to 
employ  at  least  temporarily  white  troops,"  wrote  General 
Vogdes.  "  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  Florida  presents 
many  facilities  both  in  the  nature  of  the  country  and  in  the 
character  of  the  inhabitants  for  guerilla  warfare."  ^ 

Such  a  policy  as  the  foregoing  was  not  that  put  into 
actual  operation.  Most  towns  and  villages  had  their  negro 
or  mixed  garrisons  before  many  weeks  had  passed.^  "  A 
careful  examination  and  mature  consideration  of  all  the 
information  in  my  possession  leads  me  to  the  opinion  that 
sound  policy  requires  the  mixing  of  the  kinds  of  troops, 
white  and  colored,  in  all  the  garrisons  of  the  interior,"  an- 
nounced the  same  General  Vogdes  just  three  weeks  after  he 
had  advised  white  garrisons.*  Negro  troops  were  not  nec- 
essary to  keep  order.  Their  presence  was  meant  to  impress 
the  native  white  with  the  thorough-going  character  of  the 
social  revolution  which  had  been  wrought.^ 

1  Off.  Reds.  RebelL.  s.  i,  v.  47,  pt.  3,  pp.  580,  597.  The  3rd  and  34th 
U.  S.  Colored  Infantry  and  the  17th  Conn.  Infy.  (white)  furnished 
garrisons  throughout  Central  and  East  Florida  by  the  end  of  May. 
At  Apalachicola,  Pensacola,  and  other  point  in  West  Florida  the  82nd 
Colored  Infantry  and  i6ist  N.  Y.  Infy.  (white)  were  in  garrison. 
Orders  were  to  place  one  company  in  each  village  and  town.  In  some 
cases  five  or  six  companies  were  in  a  town.  Gainesville  and  Talla- 
hassee were  the  most  important  garrisons  in  the  interior.  See  v.  49, 
pt.  2,  p.  867. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  419.    Vogdes  to  Burger,  May  6,  1865. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  581,  622;  V.  49,  pt.  2,  pp.  867-868.  Long,  Florida  Breezes, 
p.  382. 

*  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  47,  pt.  3,  p.  581.  Vogdes  to  Burger,  May 
27,  1865. 

'  See  reference  to  Southern  white's  feeling  in  Richardson,  op.  cit., 
p.  179.     "  And  last  but  not  least  we  were  put  under  martial  law  and 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR  339 

As  the  state  government  had  been  abolished,  the  pres- 
ence of  some  sort  of  troops  was  very  necessary  to  preserve 
the  public  peace/  Federal  soldiers  were  under  strict  and 
definite  orders  to  refrain  from  plundering  or  unduly  inter- 
fering with  the  affairs  of  the  inhabitants.^  Most  of  them 
behaved  well.  Some  were  insolent.  The  most  common  of- 
fense of  the  negro  soldier  was  stealing  chickens  and  live 
stock. ^  The  commanders  of  Federal  troops  were  in  many 
cases  eminently  fair-minded  men,  placed  in  a  difficult  situa- 
tion, and  soon  longing  to  be  out  of  it  all  and  at  home. 

In  addition  to  standing  for  the  absent  majesty  of  the 
civil  law  in  suppressing  vagrant  lawlessness,  an  important 
function  of  the  Federal  military  soon  developed  in  adjust- 
ing or  attempting  to  adjust  the  interests  of  white  employer 
and  black  employee.     Emancipation  became  an  acknowl- 

garrisoned  and  ruled  by  a  company  of  free  negroes.  The  little  cap- 
tain was  a  man  of  white  skin  but  his  heart  was  blacker  than  the 
negroes  that  he  commanded.  This  was  the  darkest  shadow,  or  I  might 
say,  the  darkest  night  that  ever  passed  over  my  life." 

^  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.j  s.  i,  v.  47,  pt.  3,  pp.  580,  622 ;  v.  49,  pt.  2,  pp.  731, 
850.  Gen.  Asboth  r:;ported  May  11,  1865:  "  On  the  5th  instant  .  .  .  sev- 
eral hundred  citizens  of  West  Florida  would  assemble  at  Milton  with 
the  intention  of  returning  to  their  allegiance,  and  that  some  lawless 
parties  had  threatened  to  break-up  such  a  meeting.  I  ordered  Col. 
Woodman  and  the  District  Provost- Marshal  to  proceed  with  200  men 
to  that  place  to  prevent  any  disturbance,"  etc. 

May  20th — Asboth  to  McCook :  "  The  raiders  made  a  demonstration 
against  Cambellton  upon  Wednesday  last,  numbers,  about  100." 

Also  N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  i,  1865;  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Aug.,  1865. 
Regulators  in  East  Florida  again  reported  to  be  active.  "  Victims  are 
Union  men  and  rebel  deserters.  One  man  who  had  been  a  valuable 
scout  for  the  Union  army  during  the  war  was  found  hung  to  a  tree 
near  Lake  City."  Floridian,  Nov.,  1865.  Violence  in  Jackson  Co. 
Company  of  Federal  Infantry  ordered  to  scene  to  put  down  disturb- 
ance; N.  Y.  Herald,  Dec.  30,  1865. 

*  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  1075. 

•  Floridian,  1866-7,  passim. 


340  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

edged  reality  in  the  South  with  the  surrender  of  the  South- 
ern armies.  General  Gillmore,  commanding  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  South  (S.  C,  Ga.,  and  Florida),  issued,  on 
May  14th,  1865,  an  ''Emancipation  Order",  and  before  the 
end  of  the  month  it  had  gained  general  circulation  through- 
out the  District  of  Florida/  Many  of  the  slaveholders  in 
this  state  called  together  their  negroes  and  told  them  that 
they  were  free. 

Some  of  these  ex-slaveholders  were  slow  in  comprehend- 
ing the  extent  of  the  social  revolution.^  To  the  planter 
with  a  crop  in  the  ground  the  practical,  immediate  ques- 
tion was,  how  free  is  the  one-time  slave?  Was  there  any 
lawful  way  of  .compelling  the  black  to  obey  orders  and 
stick  by  his  work  ?  One  fact  soon  became  evident :  the  ex- 
masters  must  do  none  of  the  compelling.  The  Federal  mili- 
tary, however,  threw  its  influence  on  the  side  of  keeping 
the  negro  on  the  plantations.  In  these  early  efforts  of  the 
military  to  adjust  the  labor  question  we  have  the  genesis 
of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau's  labor  policy  and  the  Black 
Codes. 

None  of  the  early  orders  issued  by  the  military  inter- 
fered with  the  right  of  the  black  to  hire  himself  to  whom- 
soever he  pleased.  General  orders  of  May  24th  declared 
that  "  no  rules  or  regulations  will  be  adopted  interfering 
with  their  hiring  themselves  to  whom  they  may  be  inclined. 
It  is  recommended  to  them  to  remain  with  their  late  mas- 
ters. In  no  case  will  they  be  allowed  to  remain  in  idleness 
at  the  expense  of  the  Government.  .  .  .  Commanding  offi- 
cers will  see  that  late  slaves  are  made  acquainted  with  all 
their  acquired  rights;  will  urge  upon  them  to  work  for 

1  N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  20,  1865. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  i,  1865.  An  excellent  discussion  of  social  and 
economic  conditions  in  Florida,  dated  July  12.  Also  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
June  20,  1865. 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 


341 


planters  near  their  homes  in  order  to  secure  the  coming 
crop."  ^ 

To  protect  the  negro,  General  Vogdes  counseled  written 
contracts  between  negroes  and  planters  stating  the  wage 
and  the  work  to  be  performed.  The  United  States  provost- 
marshal  was  the  official  charged  with  drawing  up  such  con- 
tracts, "  By  mutual  agreement  among  the  employees," 
certain  of  their  number  (negroes)  were  to  be  chosen  super- 
intendents with  authority  to  enforce  order  and  discipline, 
the  more  important  cases  to  be  referred  for  settlement  to 
the  nearest  provost-marshal.^  This  popular  election  of 
bosses  was  an  asinine  provision.  In  reality  the  United 
States  provost-marshal  became  the  temporary  guardian  of 
the  negro.  ^ 

When  they  learned  that  they  were  free,  many  thousands 
of  the  approximately  70,000  *  Florida  negroes  deserted 
their  homes  to  flock  into  the  Federal  military  camps  and 
into  the  towns.'  Summer-time  had  come,  "baptizing  time," 
water-melon  time,  berry  time.  The  weather  was  charm- 
ingly warm.  They  were  free,  and  in  truly  19th-century 
scientific  spirit  they  sought  to  break  with  the  past  and  to 
"  test  their  freedom  ".  Responsibility  lay  lightly  on  their 
shoulders.  They  shed  husbands,  children,  wives,  and  other 
dependents  with  an  ease  and  rapidity  which  makes  even  a 
modem  divorce  court  in  comparison  seem  a  conservative 

*  Off.  Reds.  Rehell.,  s.  i,  v.  47,  pt.  3,  p.  623.  Gen.  Order  no.  22,  May 
24,  1865. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  624. 

»  For  instance,  see  N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  i,  1865. 

*  Floridian  during  1867  gave  results  of  special  census,  71,667  blacks. 

*  N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  20,  1865 ;  N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  i,  and  June  16, 
1865;  N.  Y.  Herald  (June  or  July),  1865;  Long,  Florida  Breezes,  p. 
381 ;  Jones,  Our  Women  in  War-Time ;  references  in  Freedmen's 
Bureau  Reports,  passim. 


342  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

institution.  Their  curiosity  prompted  them  to  seek  knowl- 
edge of  that  boon  which  kind  Fortune  had  granted  them — 
great  personal  freedom. 

Their  presence  about  barracks  and  camps  became  an  an- 
noying burden  to  the  Federal  authorities.  "  There  is  only 
one  thing  that  can  be  done  with  the  negroes,"  angrily  wrote 
a  certain  adjutant-general  lately  from  the  North.  "We  have 
no  provisions  for  them.  Turn  them  out ;  they  can  return  to 
their  former  masters — or  go  where  they  please.  Under  the 
laws  of  the  United  States  they  are  free  men  and  our  in- 
structions are  to  treat  them  as  free  men."  ^  After  a  taste 
of  freedom  many  of  the  blacks,  induced  probably  by  lack 
of  food  and  shelter,^  returned  to  the  plantations  where  they 
had  been  slaves.  Some  rhymester  of  the  times  caught  the 
poetic  conception  of  the  situation : 

1  never  knew  the  old  plantation 

Was  half  so  dear  a  place  for  me 
As  when  among  that  Yankee  nation 

The  robbers  told  me  I  was  free; 
;  And  when  I  looked  around  for  freedom 

'  (We  thought  it  something  bright  and  fair) 

Hunger,  misery,  and  starvation 

Was  all  that  met  us  there. 
How  often  when  we  used  to  shiver 

All  through  the  long  cold  winter  night, 
I  used  to  study  'oout  my  cabin. 

The  hearth  all  red  with  pinewood  light.' 

The  older  house  servants  were  inclined  to  remain  at  home 
where  they  belonged  in  an  apologetic  attitude  toward  "  Ole 
Miss  an'  Ole  Marster  at  this  here  carrying  on  ".     "  De 

'  Off.  Reds.  Retell.,  s.  i,  v.  49,  pt.  2,  p.  801. 

*  This  seems  to  have  been  the  situation  generally  over  the  South. 
For  Florida,  see  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  Reports  and  A^.  Y.  Tribune, 
June  20,  1865. 

•  Moore,  Retell.  Red.,  v.  8,  p.  27. 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 


343 


Yankees  might  er  waited  till  we  axed  'em  for  freedom," 
said  some  in  aristocratic  aloofness.  "  Anyhow  it  come  ter 
us ;  we  aint  gone  ter  it  ".    This  was  true.^ 

Although  many  negroes  left  plantations  and  homes  and 
"  celebrated  "  with  evident  show  of  satisfaction,  there  was 
at  first  not  much  offensiveness  on  their  part.  "  Some  fami- 
lies were  disturbed  by  the  sudden  departure  of  their  house 
servants,"  and  agriculture  was  threatened,  but  generally  the 
two  races  were  at  peace.  A  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
Times,  journeying  through  the  state  at  this  time,  noticed 
at  every  railway  station  "  large  numbers  of  blacks — healthy, 
good-looking  negroes,  the  larger  portion  females  decked  in 
gayest  attire  and  in  a  style  that  would  throw  most  ridicu- 
lous caricatures  in  the  shade  ".^  At  every  warehouse  he 
noticed  "  quantities  of  cotton  ready  for  shipment  by  return 
trains,  and  some  of  it  bore  the  '  C.  S.  A.'  of  the  exploded 
Government ".  He  entered  the  fallen  capital,  Tallahassee, 
and  "  at  the  modest  little  churches  ",  he  records, 

I  noticed  an  assemblage  of  quite  a  number  of  carriages,  indi- 
cating the  vicinity  of  a  rural  aristocracy,  and  inside  I  listened 
to  a  good  old-fashioned  sermon  and  saw  an  assemblage  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen.  ...  I  learned  that  the  planters  in  the 
vicinity  are  generally  irreconciled  in  the  new  order  of  things 
and  believe  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  succeed  by  free  labor. 
Cotton,  they  say,  can  never  be  profitably  cultivated  by  free 
labor ;  "  the  negroes,"  they  say,  "  will  not  work  it,  and  the 
whites  cannot."  The  "  negroes  will  prefer  to  cultivate  corn 
and  p>otatoes  and  live  easy."  Many  are  endeavoring  to  sell 
out,  and  are  offering  their  plantations  at  prices  which  indicate 
their  belief  that  the  prosperity  of  the  country  is  at  an  end.' 

*  Long,  op.  cit. 

»  N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  i,  1865,  letter  of  July  12th. 

•  N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  1,  1865. 


344  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Tribune  at  Jackson- 
ville summarized  on  June  12th,  1865,  the  situation  in  Flor- 
ida as  follows : 

1.  There  are  but  few  persons  in  the  state  of  any  class  who 
are  not  anxious  that  peace  should  continue.  I  do  not  think 
that  there  is  an  armed  rebel  in  the  state, 

2.  Emancipation  has  been  promptly,  and  in  many  cases 
cheerfully,  acquiesced  in. 

3.  But  few  of  the  freedmen  have  anything  like  a  correct 
idea  of  the  boon  of  liberty,  but  they  are  very  teachable.  The 
influence  of  a  Northern  man  is  almost  boundless  over  them. 

4.  The  late  masters  have  at  best  the  glimmering  idea  of  the 
situation  of  the  colored  man,  etc.  They  welcome  Northern 
men  among  them  and  treat  them  with  the  utmost  consideration. 

5.  The  present  crop  will  not  materially  suffer  in  conse- 
quence of  Emancipation. 

6.  Severe  flogging  with  the  whip  and  paddle  has  not  entirely 
disappeared. 

7.  A  few  instances  of  shooting  and  other  acts  of  violence 
have  occurred,  and  may  yet  occur. 

8.  The  late  plantation-masters  generally  have  no  ability  to 
promote  the  social  and  moral  elevation  of  the  colored  people, 
and  they  will  remain  tw  statu  quo  until  put  under  other  in- 
fluences. 

9.  Nine-tenths  of  the  ex-slaves  are  on  plantations  working 
for  wages,  and  will  be  paid. 

10.  Great  changes  will  take  place  next  Christmas.^ 

The  foregoing  is  a  typical  moderate  or  conservative  esti- 
mate of  Southern  conditions  in  1865  as  seen  by  the  North. 
Two  points  are  here  worthy  of  particular  notice:  i,  that 
observations  on  the  negro  should  occupy  such  large  space  in 
a  summary  of  conditions  at  the  war's  termination;  2,  evi- 
dent belief  that  the  interests  of  the  black  would  suffer  as 

» N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  20,  1865. 


THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 


345 


long  as  the  Southern  white  continued  to  exert  influence 
over  him.  "  To  abandon  the  exercise  of  arbitrary  power 
and  adopt  the  appeal  to  reason  will  test  the  virtue  of  the 
best  of  the  slave-holding  aristocracy,"  ^  wrote  another 
Northern  correspondent  from  Florida.  On  the  race  ques- 
tion, the  Northerner  at  that  time  reckoned  at  a  low  figure 
the  "  virtue  "  of  the  ex-master.  He  was  apt  to  believe  that 
the  institution  of  slavery  had  distorted  the  Southerner's 
moral  outlook.  The  Southerner  was  also  logically  subject 
to  patronizing  suspicion  because  he  had  rebelled  against  his 
government  and  might  be  still  plotting  dark  treason. 
Equity  and  justice  for  the  negro  as  well  as  enlightenment 
on  all  public  questions  must  come  from  social  experi- 
mentors,  selfish  politicians,  and  crack-brained  theorists 
from  afar.  Public  consciousness  North  in  1865  was  fallow 
for  the  development  of  an  exacting,  revolutionary,  and  de- 
structive reconstruction  program  to  be  foisted  on  the  South. 

1  N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  i,  1865. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
Political  Reorganization 

The  reorganization  of  fallen  governments  by  presi- 
dential direction  was  the  first  phase  of  Reconstruction  in 
the  one-time  states  of  the  vanished  Confederacy.  The 
war  had  wrought  profound  change  in  the  South.  Bleed- 
ing, starved,  burned,  desolated,  scarred  almost  beyond  recog- 
nition, that  section  exhibited  the  fearful  spectacle  of  what 
civil  conflict  can  produce.  The  reconstruction  of  govern- 
ment there  was  to  involve  even  greater  political  change 
than  the  war  had  brought.  The  old  regime  was  past.  A 
new  period  was  beginning  in  1865. 

It  is  a  fact  not  without  a  certain  melancholy  pathos  that 
this  inevitable  rebuilding  must  inevitably  take  place  in  an 
atmosphere  of  prejudice  and  bitterness.  Slavery  had  been 
destroyed,  but  sectionalism  had  not  been  destroyed.  The 
passionate  condemnation  of  the  slaveholder  by  the  North- 
ern moralist  in  1861  had  given  place  to  a  patronizing  sus- 
picion of  the  ex-rebel  by  the  Northern  patriot  in  1865.  It 
is  not  germane  to  this  discussion  to  inquire  into  the  justice 
or  soundness  of  such  suspicion.  By  perfectly  clear  histori- 
cal process  it  entered  into  public  opinion — and  reconstruct- 
ing the  South  involved  public  opinion  North  as  well  as 
South. 

A  powerful  element  in  the  North  demandecf  the  impos- 
sible— demanded  that  the  "  ex-rebel  "  be  penitent.  Peni- 
tence of  those  who  had  supported  the  Confederacy  was 
somehow  considered  necessary  as  proof  of  their  patriotism, 
346 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION 


347 


and  patriotism,  strangely  confused  with  loyalty.  The  "  ex- 
rebel  "  was  not  penitent,  however  resolved  he  might  have 
been  to  keep  the  peace  and  the  law. 

Those  Southern  whites  who  belonged  logically  to  the  old 
regime  found  it  difficult  to  adjust  themselves  quickly  or 
gladly  to  the  new.  The  misfortunes  of  the  present  made 
people  recall  with  eagerness  the  pleasantness  of  the  past. 
It  is  usually  so.  Hence  the  rapid  rise  of  many  traditions. 
Some  Southerners  of  poetic  temperament,  maybe,  con- 
cluded sadly  that  the  peculiar  goodness,  peace,  and  plenty 
of  Southern  life  had  disappeared  with  the  fall  of  slavery.'' 
They  turned  to  the  recent  past.  Their  imaginations  pic- 
tured for  them  a  fair  and  far-away  region  with  broad  and 
blooming  fields,  so  rich  that  the  rest  of  the  world  was  the 
South's  debtor;  so  peaceful  that  the  people  there  were 
naively  trustful  of  human  nature  and  jails  grew  musty 
from  long  disuse;  so  beautiful  that  the  sweetest  songs  of 
the  nation  tell  of  their  placid  expanse.  They  pictured  these 
fields  as  well-tilled  and  ever  expanding  beneath  the  kindly 
sky,  "  sun-steeped  at  noon  and  in  the  moon  nightly  dew 
fed ",  watched  over  by  a  wise  and  urbane  and  happy 
aristocracy  and  worked  by  contented  negroes.  They  con- 
ceived a  society  where  simple  life  and  a  genuine  democracy 
had  bound  the  white  race  together — rich  and  poor,  regard- 
less of  culture — with  flexible  bonds,  and  made  of  it  one, 
commanding,  dominant  caste,  proud  of  race — a  society 
where  simple  faith  and  equitable  law  mitigated  slavery  and 
purified  politics. 

Was  it  all  a  dream?  The  critical  cynic  can  well  say  so. 
There  is  plenty  to  sneer  at  in  such  traditions,  which  are 
but  fond  memories  glorified  and  changed  by  poverty  and 

*  See,   for  instance,   the  long  letter  in  A^.   Y.   Times,  Aug.   i,   1865, 
from  Florida. 


348  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

sorrow.  Certainly  the  breath  of  a  rude  change  has  meta- 
morphosed their  Utopia  into  the  semblance  of  a  dream, 
yet  the  vision  might  be  made  a  superb  one,  and  to  this  day 
it  supplies  many  a  pettifogging  politician  South  with  some- 
thing beautiful  to  talk  about  which  his  constituents  believe 
in  and  will  not  scoff  at  because  they  love  it.  It  is  almost 
a  religion  with  them.  Some  say  they  are  narrow  and  pro- 
vincial. Certainly  they  show  a  strong  affection  for  the  Old 
South,  and  this  sentiment,  based  upon  the  idealization  of 
things  that  to  a  stranger  seem  hardly  worth  while,  exalts 
their  provincialism.  They  love  the  traditions  of  their  land 
because  the  traditions  are  theirs.  The  South  is  not  unlike 
one  big  neighborhood.  Until  recently  few  people  from  the 
old  world  and  from  distant  states  had  come  there  with 
other  traditions.  Much  is  still  the  same  as  in  the  past.  The 
towns  and  villages  are  still  mostly  shady,  quiet  centers  of 
wholesale  barter,  politics,  and  litigation  for  a  riding,  driv- 
ing country-side.  The  wooded  hills  which  pioneer  and 
slave  once  trod  rise  little  changed  to-day,  but  shrouded 
in  tradition,  before  the  eyes  of  their  children  and  grand- 
children. The  fields  which  slave  and  freemen  cleared  long  be- 
fore the  war  still  perennially  fail  to  make  folks  rich,  though 
tilled  now  only  by  freemen.  The  sun  and  the  moon  and 
the  stars  still  look  down  on  cotton  and  corn  and  cane  and 
forests  of  dark  green  pines  and  rivers  that  wind  their  lonely, 
slumberous  way  toward  the  tropics  and  the  sea.  But  pro- 
found change  is  slowly  taking  place.  It  began  after  the 
war  with  Reconstruction,  and  gathers  momentum  with  the 
years.  "  The  old  order  changeth,  yielding  place  to  new, 
and  God  fulfils  himself  in  many  ways,  lest  one  good  custom 
should  corrupt  the  world." 

A  time-honored  social  system  has  long  ago  been  mod- 
ernized. Wage  slavery  and  lawlessness  have  partly  taken 
the  place  of  chattel  slavery  and  comparative  peace.    An  in- 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION  349 

dustrial  revolution  grips  the  section.  The  new  South  as  a 
grafted  limb,  has  sprung  from  the  sturdy  stump  of  the  old. 
Maybe  it  will  retain  the  virtues  of  the  old  tree  with  some  of 
the  faults  eliminated.  The  change  was  new  in  1865  and 
many  believed  the  good  old  times  forever  dead.  Some 
looked  for  homes  across  the  sea,  in  Brazil  and  even  in  more 
distant  lands. 

When  the  tumult  of  military  camps  passed  in  1865  the 
nation  entered  almost  automatically  upon  the  inevitable  ex- 
perience of  readjustment  to  the  revolution.  This  readjust- 
ment included  political  reconstruction  South.  Reconstruc- 
tion compassed  before  it  ended  the  political  elevation  of 
the  negro.  Was  this  last  fact  an  inevitable  result  of  the 
war?  It  is  the  central  theme,  certainly,  in  the  history  of 
Reconstruction,  although  the  negro  as  voter  and  office- 
holder played  no  part  in  the  episode  of  presidential  reor- 
ganization immediately  following  the  war.  Yet  even  at 
this  time  (1865)  conditions  which  two  years  later  produced 
the  ugliest  aspect  of  Reconstruction  were  in  the  making. 
The  negro  had  powerful  champions  in  the  North  (Charles 
Sumner,  Salmon  P.  Chase,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  etc.),  who 
saw  his  latent  possibilities  as  a  voter.  Peace  had  come  nomi- 
nally with  the  disbanding  of  Southern  armies,  but  reason 
had  by  no  means  displaced  passion  as  a  dominating  force  in 
national  councils.  The  great  principles  of  former  years 
were  no  longer  live  issues.  The  Union  was  saved;  seces- 
sion was  practically  repudiated;  the  negro  was  free.  But 
to  safeguard  these  very  triumphs  radical  leaders  were  al- 
ready advising  that  the  revolution  be  carried  forward  and 
the  negro  given  political  rights.  This  was  the  sentiment 
which,  as  an  undercurrent,  insidiously  spread  over  the 
critical  North,  blighting  ultimately  the  efforts  at  loyal  polit- 
ical reorganization  South  which  began  when  the  long  roll 
ceased  to  beat  in  1865. 


350  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Mr.  Johnson  began  his  presidential  career  by  taking-up 
the  policy  of  Mr.  Lincoln  where  the  latter  had  left  off.  The 
Southern  states  were  in  a  condition  bordering  on  political 
and  social  chaos.  In  the  midst  of  this  confusion  the  admin- 
istration set  about  reorganizing  state  governments  and  pre- 
paring the  recalcitrant  commonwealths  for  re-entry  into  the 
Union.  Certain  leaders  began  vaguely  to  formulate  plans 
for  building  in  the  South  a  strong  wing  of  the  Union- Re- 
publican party.  With  the  re-establishment  of  Federal  au- 
thority, there  was  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  number 
of  Federal  offices  South  at  the  disposal  of  the  administra- 
tion. The  filling  of  these  offices  was  a  first  step  in  reor- 
ganizing government.    Recognition  was  given  to  party  men. 

Florida  was  the  least  important  Southern  state  for  the 
seeker  of  votes  or  office-seeker,  but  it  constituted  an  integral 
part  of  United  States  territory,  and  when  in  the  future 
it  should  become  once  more  a  state  in  the  Union  its  politi- 
cal possibilities  were  apparent.  The  attempt  to  reconstruct 
Florida  during  the  Civil  War  proved  a  flat  failure  but  re- 
sulted in  launching  there  after  a  fashion  the  Union-Repub- 
lican party. 

A  few  hundred  "  loyal  men  "  was  the  party's  following 
in  1865.  Federal  office-holders  were  the  leaders.  During 
the  war  Florida's  few  Federal  office-holders  had  quarreled 
among  themselves.  Soon  after  Mr.  Johnson  became  Presi- 
dent this  difference  of  opinion  became  more  pronounced. 
Outsiders  from  the  North  offended  native  "  loyal  men  " 
because  they,  the  outsiders,  received  most  of  the  govern- 
ment's favors.  Mr.  Chase  while  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury had  built  up  a  faction  of  special  treasury  agents  and 
their  friends. 

When  Mr.  Chase  became  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States  he  did  not  lose  touch  with  his  political  hench- 
men   because    he    never    lost    sight    of    the    Presidency 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION 


351 


for  himself.  He  made  a  tour  in  the  South  during 
the  late  spring  and  early  summer  of  1865.  In  Flor- 
ida he  visited  Fernandina  and  Key  West,  conferred 
with  his  political  friends,  and  wrote  Mr.  Johnson  num- 
erous letters  concerning  the  fitness  of  the  black  for  the 
ballot.^  His  visit  caused  uneasiness  to  the  opponents  of  the 
treasury  faction  of  Federal  office-holders.  A  prominent 
figure  among  these  opponents  of  Chase's  influence  was  Har- 
rison Reed,  chief  postal  agent  of  the  national  government 
for  Florida.^  Reed  was  destined  to  become  Republican 
governor  of  Florida.  He  was  the  appointee  of  Montgomery 
Blair  of  the  post-office  department.  He  proved  a  steady 
supporter  of  Johnson  and  had  unofficially  represented  Flor- 
ida at  his  inauguration.^ 

On  June  26th  Reed  wrote  Blair,  in  part,  as  follows : 

I  wish  to  bespeak  your  immediate  and  earnest  assistance  to 
rescue  Florida  from  the  hands  of  Chase  and  Lis  corrupt  agents 
now  holding  lucrative  position  under  the  Government.  His 
late  visit  to  this  state  was  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  revive 
the  efforts  to  secure  this  state  for  his  future  purposes  and 
against  the  policy  of  the  Administration.  As  you  know  I  in- 
curred his  hostility  and  that  of  his  corrupt  tools  for  venturing 
to  expose  and  arrest  the  plans  started  two  years  ago  for  the 
same  purposes.  On  my  return  here  a  few  days  since  I  was 
made  aware  that  it  would  not  be  safe  for  me  to  oppose  Mr. 
Chase,  and  yesterday  I  was  privately  advised  that  he  had  made 
sure  of  all  the  patronage  necessary  to  control  the  state,  includ- 
ing the  military  governor,  soon  expected,  and  that  I  could 
have  distinguished  favor  if  I  would  cease  to  oppose  his  nefar- 
ious plans.  He  has  advised  his  friends  here  to  organize  the 
colored  men  and  prepare  them  to  vote,  and  that  their  action 

*  Chase  to  Johnson,  May  21  and  23,  1865,  Johnson  Papers. 

'  N.  Y.  Evening  Express,  June  14,  1865. 

'  Inauguration  Program,  March  30,  1865,  Johnson  Papers. 


352  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

will  be  sustained  by  the  Supreme  Court — holding  that  there  is 
no  legal  power  to  deny  suflfrage  to  any  citizeh.  Secret  organ- 
izations of  blacks  and  non-resident  whites  or  outsiders  im- 
ported here  as  Treasury  Agents  have  been  commenced.  These, 
however,  are  of  little  account  and  could  do  no  mischief  unless 
under  the  patronage  of  the  Government.  The  intention  is  to 
override  the  resident  white  citizens  on  the  plea  that  they  are 
all  disloyal.  The  agent  who  made  overtures  to  me  is  a  man 
sent  by  Chase,  and  one  of  his  family  associates — his  vice- 
general  here — is  L.  D.  Stickney,  who  has  drawn  thousands 
from  the  Treasury  fraudulently,^  and  who  still  holds  the  office 
of  Tax-Commissioner,  though  indicted  in  Washington  for  a 
part  of  his  frauds.  Chase  took  him  on  board  his  revenue- 
cutter  and  went  round  the  Gulf  bespeaking  for  him  the  favor 
of  the  military  authorities,  and  arranged  to  rebuild  the  Fer- 
nandina  and  Cedar  Keys  R.  R.  by  military  authority  and  then 
turn  it  over  to  Stickney  for  the  benefit  of  the  Ring.  It  will 
take  $500,000  to  rebuild  the  road,  and  it  will  be  of  no  use  to 
the  Government  for  military  purposes.  But  what  I  deem 
necessary  is  that  you  should  prevent  any  further  appointments 
of  officers  for  the  state  in  this  interest.  There  is  a  loyal  ele- 
ment here  which  deserves  notice,  but  thus  far  every  appoint- 
ment is  from  abroad,  and  with  two  or  three  exceptions  all 
have  been  made  under  this  corrupt  dynasty.  We  want  a  mili- 
tary governor  in  the  interests  of  the  Administration,  and  not 
one  who  will  seek  to  place  the  control  of  the  state  in  the  hands 
of  the  enemies  of  constitutional  government.  I  tried  to  in- 
duce Randall  to  take  the  place,  but  failed.  I  am  told  that 
Judge  Marvin,  late  of  Key  West,  now  of  New  York,  would 
like  the  place,  and  believe  he  would  be  a  good  man.  But,  for 
God's  sake,  don't  let  the  President  send  any  man  in  Chase's 
interests.^ 

Blair  turned  this  letter  over  to  Johnson,  scribbling  on  the 
back  of  it,  "  This  is  from  a  reliable  source.     The  Chase 

*  Reed  to  Blair,  June  26,  1865,  Johnson  Papers. 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION  353 

[faction?]  he  speaks  of  should  be  squelched  outright. 
They  are  now  the  only  disunionists  and  really  have  danger- 
ous conspiracies  on  foot." 

On  June  9th,  J.  George  Harris,  a  Federal  office-holder 
at  Key  West,  wrote  President  Johnson :  "  Chief  Justice 
Chase  was  here — as  you  know — a  few  days  ago.  He  as- 
sured me  and  others  of  the  perfect  understanding  between 
you  and  himself — that  you  perfectly  understood  each  other, 
etc.  ...  I  could  not  refrain  from  the  t:onviction  that  the 
Chief  Justice  was  looking  to  the  vote  of  Florida  one  of 
these  days."  ^ 

The  military  or  provisional  governorship  was  the  most 
important  Federal  appointment  which  was  to  come  in  the 
near  future  for  Florida.  Several  persons  began  at  an  early 
date  to  hang  out  their  lines  for  this  prize.  Mr.  J.  George 
Harris,  of  Key  West,  who  claimed  to  be  a  personal  friend 
of  Johnson,  sent  to  the  President  a  petition  signed  by  sev- 
eral Federal  office-holders  of  South  Florida — the  district 
judge,  the  district  attorney,  the  collector  of  customs  at  Key 
West  and  others.  This  petition  strongly  endorsed  Harris 
for  military  governor.  "  You  cannot  be  more  astonished 
at  the  letter  addressed  to  you  by  Judge  Boynton  and  others 
naming  me  for  the  military  governorship  than  I  was  when 
they  brought  it  to  me,"  naively  wrote  Harris.  "  I  assure 
^you  that  this  has  been  entirely  unsolicited  by  me  and  yet  I 
feel  it  my  duty,  etc.,  etc."  ^ 

Another  letter  reached  President  Johnson  on  the  gover- 
norship about  the  same  time.     It  named  C.  L.  Robinson.^ 

*  Harris  to  Johnson,  June  9,  1865,  Johnson  Papers. 

'  Harris  to  Johnson,  May  22,  1865,  Johnson  Papers.  Harris  was  a 
native  of  Tennessee,  where  he  evidently  had  known  Johnson  before 
1864.  He  did  not  get  the  governorship,  but  obtained  a  position  in  the 
Boston  Navy  Yard.  See  Harris  to  Johnson,  Dec.  28,  1865,  Johnson 
Papers. 

•  Mitchell  to  Johnson,  July  10,  1865,  Johnson  Papers. 


354  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

He  was  an  East  Florida  Unionist,  of  Northern  origin, 
forced  to  flee  from  Jacksonville  during  the  war  because  of 
his  pronounced  loyalty  to  the  Union,  His  endorsement 
came  from  the  State  of  Maine.  Colonel  Lemuel  Wilson,  an- 
other East  Florida  Unionist,  was  named  in  the  newspapers 
as  a  possibility.^ 

The  one-time  supporters  of  the  Confederacy  in  Florida 
were  at  this  time  politically  passive.  The  sentiment  of  the 
class  was  more  that  of  forced  resignation  to  conditions 
than  of  voluntary  and  happy  acquiescence  in  conditions. 
In  sentiment  practically  all  might  be  described  as  ex-slave- 
holders. Only  a  fraction  had  held  slaves,  but  this  fraction 
included  most  political,  religious,  and  business  leaders.^ 
The  ex-Confederate  wanted  civil  government  re-established 
as  soon  as  possible.  He  realized  that  reorganization  would 
come  from  without  and  not  within,  and  that  his  role  would 
not  be  a  commanding  one  at  first."  However,  when  it  be- 
came known  that  ex-Judge  Marvin  sought  the  provisional 
governorship  a  number  of  former  slaveholders  of  Florida 
were  active  in  his  behalf. 

Marvin's  candidacy  was  announced  to  the  President  by 
Judge  Philip  Eraser,  of  Florida  and  New  Jersey — through 
the  agency,  probably,  of  Attorney-General  Speed.  Eraser 
was  another  Union  man  forced  to  leave  the  state  during  the 
war.  To  this  gentleman  Marvin  wrote  a  letter  stating  that 
he  would  accept  the  office  of  provisional  governor  if  it  were 
tendered  him,  but  refusing  to  solicit  it.    Yet  he  took  occa- 

*  A^.  Y.  Times,  July  22,  1865. 

'Census  of  i860  gave  5,152  as  the  number  of  "slaveholders"  in 
Florida,  supra,  chap.  iii. 

»  Finley  to  Johnson,  Nov.  18,  1865;  Chase  to  Johnson,  May  21,  1865, 
Johnson  Papers.  N.  Y .  Tribune,  Aug.  — ,  1865 ;  letter  of  Aug.  10  from 
Jacksonville  in  N.  Y.  Times,  Nov.  17,  1865.  The  foregoing,  with  other 
more  general  facts,  supports  this  generalization  of  Florida. 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION 


355 


sion  to  state  that  Fraser  might  use  the  letter  in  any  way  he 
saw  fit. 

In  support  of  the  Marvin  candidacy  the  heads  of  the 
leading  marine  insurance  companies  of  New  York  sent  to 
Johnson  a  petition/  They  had  known  Marvin  by  reputa- 
tion as  an  admiralty  judge  at  Key  West.  In  Florida  several 
ex-slaveholders — one-time  Confederates — drew  up  a  Mar- 
vin petition,  signed  their  names,  and  sending  it  to  New 
York  obtained  the  signed  endorsement  of  certain  well- 
known  citizens :  A.  A.  Low,  George  Opdyke,  W.  H.  Grin- 
nell  and  others.  This  double  petition  reached  Johnson.* 
Judge  Fraser  and  Charles  A.  Peabody,  of  New  York,  were 
both  in  communication  with  Attorney-General  Speed  con- 
cerning Marvin  and  the  governorship.  Speed  transmitted 
their  letters  to  Johnson.' 

In  order  to  solicit  the  President's  attention  in  this  ap- 
pointment, two  delegations  set  out  from  Florida  for  Wash- 
ington. One  was  composed  of  East  Florida  Unionists 
pledged  for  the  support  of  no  particular  candidate ;  *  the 
other  of  ex-slaveholders,  strongly  in  Marvin's  interest*  In 
addition  to  these  two  delegations,  David  S.  Walker,  a  one- 
time Whig  and  slaveholder,  was  sent  to  Washington  to  pray 

^  Petition,  July  6,  1865,  Johnson  Papers.  Ten  companies  were  repre- 
sented in  this  petition. 

*  Petition,  July,  5  and  6,  1865,  Johnson  Papers. 

3  Peabody  to  Speed,  June  27 ;  Fraser  to  Speed,  June  29,  1865,  John- 
son Papers. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  July  22,  1865.  The  delegation  was  composed  of  C.  L. 
Robinson,  Jno.  W.  Price,  Judge  Fraser,  Buck.  Smith,  Sam.  McLin, 
Lemuel  Wilson,  Harrison  Reed,  Parker  Moody,  Sam.  T.  Day,  and 
J.  N.  Johnson — all  of  East  Florida. 

*  Wood  to  Johnson,  July  5,  1865,  Johnson  Papers.  N.  Y.  Herald, 
July  10,  1865.  Brooks  of  Apalachicola  and  Hopkins  of  Tallahassee  (a 
Confederate  veteran)  were  members  of  the  Marvin  delegation  to 
Washington. 


356  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

for  a  "  provisional  government ".  In  what  interest  he 
stood  is  not  clear.  "  The  people  of  Florida  have  sent  me 
to  you  with  a  memorial  praying  for  a  provisional  govern- 
ment and  asking  for  a  conference  on  Florida  affairs,"  he 
telegraphed  Johnson  from  Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  on  July 
I2th/  "  Delegation  of  Union  men  of  Florida  are  on  their 
way  to  Washington.  We  desire  that  action  concerning  the 
appointment  of  a  military  governor  be  deferred  till  our  ar- 
rival," had  telegraphed  C.  L.  Robinson  from  Hilton  Head, 
S.  C,  on  July  3rd.^  This  delegation  contained  at  least  two 
men  who  were  looking  for  the  appointment.  They  were 
joined  in  New  York  by  Judge  Fraser,  who  was  at  that 
moment  the  silent  agent  of  Marvin's  interests.  He  slyly 
kept  his  peace  until. after  Johnson  had  acted.' 

Before  either  Florida  delegation  or  Walker  reached 
Washington,  Johnson  appointed  Marvin  provisional  gov- 
ernor— July  13th.*  He  was  in  many  ways  a  man  admirably 
fitted  for  the  place.  A  jurist  by  profession  and  long  train- 
ing, a  scholar  of  no  little  accomplishment,  a  calm  and  delib- 
erate thinker,  a  man  of  unblemished  reputation  in  public 
and  private  life,  a  resident  of  Florida  for  twenty-five  ysar 
with  intimate  knowledge  of  the  commonwealth's  affairs 
from  long  and  successful  experience  in  the  public  service — 
he  held  the  respect  of  the  people  of  Florida  and  combined 
well  those  qualities  necessary  at  that  time  for  his  work." 

*  Johnson  Papers. 

*  Robinson  to  Johnson,  July  3,  1865,  Johnson  Papers. 

*  Committee  from  East  Florida  to  Johnson,  July  19,  1865,  Johnson 
Papers.  This  delegation  as  a  body  endorsed  the  appointment  of  Mar- 
vin when  made. 

*  An.  Cycle.,  1864-65.  For  comment  on  Marvin  and  military  gover- 
nors South  see  N.  Y.  Herald,  July  16,  1865;  also  Cox,  Three  Decades 
of  Legislation,  pp.  419-20. 

5  For  resume  of  the  public  career  of  Marvin  see  Marvin  to  Fraser, 
Jime  27,  1865,  Johnson  Papers.     Marvin  was  appointed  District  Judge 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION  357 

During  the  war  he  had  been  a  Unionist.  After  the  war  he 
had  the  support  of  the  leading  ex-Confederates. 

Marvin  came  South  with  General  Foster,  the  newly- 
appointed  commander  of  the  military  department  of  Flor- 
ida. The  two — civil  and  military  heads — discussed  the 
work  before  them,  which  was  to  be  in  truth  reorganization 
by  the  co-operation  of  citizens,  the  Federal  military,  and 
Federal  civil  officials.^  One  of  the  first  official  acts  of  the 
new  governor  on  reaching  Florida  was  to  restore  by  proc- 
lamation the  property  which  had  been  confiscated  by  the 
Confederate  government,  and  to  suspend  until  further 
notice  the  advertised  sale  of  property  which  had  been  con- 
fiscated by  the  Federal  government.  The  latter  property 
United  States  treasury  agents  were  preparing  to  sell  at  auc- 
tion on  August  7th.^  The  governor's  order  was  a  check  to 
plunder-hunting  politicians  and  bore  heaviest  on  the  Chase 
faction  of  treasury  agents  and  their  friends. 

After  announcing  by  proclamation  what  his  policy  would 
be  as  the  civil  representative  of  the  Federal  government," 

by  President  Jackson  in  1835.    By  some  critics  he  was  pronounced  the 
first  authority  in  America  on   Marine  Law.     See  Senator  Doolittle's 
speech,  Cong.  Globe,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  (1865-6),  pt.  i,  p.  313. 
»  N.  Y.  Times,  August  17,  1865. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1864-5.  All  owners  of  property  confiscated  by  the  Fed- 
eral government  who  were  embraced  in  the  President's  Amnesty  Proc- 
lamation of  May  29  or  who  had  been  specially  pardoned  by  the  Presi- 
dent were  to  have  their  property  restored  on  filing  proof  of  owner- 
ship with  the  governor.  Marvin  had  obtained  from  the  U.  S.  Attorney- 
General  an  order  restraining  the  sale  of  confiscated  property. 

N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  17,  1865,  letter  from  Florida.  U.  S.  Marshal 
Remington  had  been  active  in  confiscating  in  East  Florida,  particu- 
larly in  the  neighborhood  of  Jacksonville,  St.  Augustine,  and  Fernan- 
dina.  Many  plantations  and  some  town  property  were  embraced  in  the 
list  to  be  sold.  See  also  A^.  Y.  World,  May  4,  1865.  For  discussion  of 
confiscation  in  the  South  see  Rhodes,  U.  S.,  v.  5. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1864-5. 


358  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Marvin  traversed  the  state  and  in  speeches  that  were  re- 
markably simple,  logical,  and  withal  forceful,  he  pointed 
out  what  he  considered  the  necessary  point  of  view  for  the 
ex-slaveholder,  the  necessary  change  in  the  approaching 
political  reorganization,  and  the  necessary  future  position 
under  the  law  for  the  negro/  He  preached  the  prompt 
acknowledgment  of  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the  annulment 
of  the  secession  ordinance,  the  repudiation  of  the  war  debt, 
and  the  admission  of  blacks  as  witnesses  and  litigants  in  the 
courts.  To  the  native  white  he  counseled  an  acceptance  in 
good  faith  without  question  of  the  clear  issues  of  the  war. 
To  the  black  he  counseled  the  acceptance  of  the  white  man 
as  political  and  social  superior. 

"  As  citizens  before  the  law  the  freedmen  must  in  all 
respects  be  our  equals,"  he  said  at  Quincy,  September  5th. 
"  Furthermore,  persons  of  color  must  be  admitted  as  wit- 
nesses in  all  courts  of  civil  jurisdiction.  .  .  .  You  keep  the 
negro  out  of  the  courts  and  what  chance  has  he  for  justice? 
And,"  he  added  significantly,  "  the  North  is  very  powerful, 
even  after  the  war,  and  has  strength  enough  to  enforce  its 
decrees." ' 

In  his  message  to  the  constitutional  convention  a  few 
weeks  later  Marvin  stated  that  "  unless  the  negro  finds  pro- 
tection in  courts  of  justice  he  becomes  the  victim  of  every 
wicked,  depraved,  and  bad  man  whose  avarice  may  prompt 
him  to  refuse  payment  of  just  wages  or  whose  passions  may 
excite  to  abuse  or  mal-treatment."  ' 

'  Sen.  Docs.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  26,  p.  203.  N.  Y.  Tribune,  August, 
1865,  letter  of  Aug.  loth ;  N.  Y.  Times,  Dec.  25,  1865.  "  Gov.  Marvin 
took  the  bull  by  the  horns,  going  over  the  state  and  explaining  to  the 
people  what  he  expected  of  them."  For  an  estimate  of  Marvin's 
speeches  see  N.  Y.  Daily  News,  Oct.  27,  1865 ;  N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  Oct. 
3,  1865;  and  An.  Cyclo.,  1864-5. 

•  Speech,  A''.  Y.  Evening  Post,  October  3,  1865. 

»  See  Message,  N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  8,  1865. 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION  359 

At  Marianna,  speaking  to  the  negroes,  he  said: 

There  has  been  a  story  circulated  in  Middle  Florida  that  on 
the  first  day  of  January  next  the  land  and  mules  will  be  taken 
from  your  former  owners  and  divided  among  you.  Such  a  story, 
I  suppose,  you  have  all  heard.  Have  you?  Speak  out  if  you 
have  and  tell  me.  ("I'se  hearn  it!  I'se  hearn  it!"  say  all.) 
Well,  who  told  you  so?  (An  answer:  "The  soldiers.")  .  .  . 
I  want  you  to  understand  me.  The  President  will  not  give 
you  one  foot  of  land,  nor  a  mule,  nor  a  hog,  nor  a  cow,  nor 
even  a  knife  or  fork  or  spoon.  (A  voice:  "  Dar,  ole  man,  you 
hear  dat!")  ^ 

Marvin's  speech-making  served  a  useful  purpose  in  pre- 
senting to  the  people  of  Florida  the  immediate  and  domi- 
nating points  in  the  Reconstruction  policy  of  the  national 
government.  Any  important  measures  which  a  state  con- 
vention might  enact  to  adjust  Florida's  constitution  to  that 
of  the  restored  Union  must  be  in  substantial  harmony  with 
the  national  government's  program  ere  the  state  would  be 
restored  to  the  Union  or  relieved  from  the  burdens  of  semi- 
military  rule. 

Marvin  was  the  intelligent,  positive,  and  withal,  popular 
agent  of  the  national  administration.  By  proclamation  he 
named  the  loth  of  October  as  the  day  for  the  election  of  a 
state  convention  which  was  to  "  draw  up  a  constitution  Re- 
publican in  form  and  adapted  to  the  new  order  of  things," 
in  brief,  to  politically  reorganize.^    "  I  have  now  visited  the 

'  Speech  at  Marianna,  Sept.  27,  N.  Y.  Daily  News,  Oct.  27,  1865; 
also  see  Sen.  Docs.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  26,  p.  206. 

*  Sen.  Docs.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  26,  pp.  203-5;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Sept.  18, 
1865.  The  Proclamation  of  Gov.  Marvin,  Aug.  2Z,  1865,  stated  that 
only  "  loyal "  men  could  participate  in  the  election.  The  qualifications 
for  voting  were — white  male  21  years  of  age  and  upward,  one  year's 
residence  in  Florida,  six  months  in  a  certain  county,  and  subscription 
to  President  Johnson's  Amnesty  Oath  or  proof  of  special  pardon  by 


360  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Eastern,  Western,  and  Middle  portions  of  this  state,"  wrote 
the  governor,  "  and  conversed  freely  with  the  people.  There 
is  a  disposition  among  them  in  every  part  of  the  state  to  co- 
operate in  the  establishment  of  a  state  government.  .  .  . 
The  people  have  not  asked  me  to  re-establish  the  municipal 
authority  of  the  courts,  sheriffs,  justices  of  the  peace,  etc. 
Peace  and  order  have  been  preserved  in  the  several  counties 
by  the  provost  marshals."  ^ 

The  registration  of  voters  and  the  election  to  the  con- 
vention were  conducted  by  Federal  military  and  civil  offi- 
cials. All  white  citizens  of  age  who  subscribed  before  the 
proper  authorities  to  President  Johnson's  Amnesty  Oath 
or  who  possessed  a  special  pardon  from  the  President  might 
be  enrolled  as  voters.  Registration  seems  to  have  been  con- 
ducted with  a  reasonable  amount  of  honesty  and  diligence. 
The  election  was  fair  and  uneventful.  The  issues  before 
the  people  were  clear-cut  and  definite ;  namely,  whether  the 
black  should  be  admitted  to  the  courts;  and  whether  the 
war-debt  of  the  state  should  be  repudiated.^  The  vote  cast 
was  less  than  half  the  normal  vote  of  Florida  five  years 

the  President.  The  Amnesty  Oath  could  be  taken,  stated  the  Procla- 
mation, before  any  civil  or  military  official  of  the  state  or  Federal 
government  qualified  to  administer  oaths.  The  state  judges  of  probate 
were  directed  to  distribute  poll  books  and  appoint  three  inspectors  of 
election  in  each  precinct.  The  Federal  commander  of  the  military  in 
the  state  would  provide  for  the  distribution  of  poll  books  through  the 
hands  of  his  soldiers.  U.  S.  transports  would  touch  at  Cedar  Keys, 
Apalachicola,  Pensacola,  Fernandina,  St.  Augustine,  Manatee,  Tampa, 
Enterprise,  and  Key  West  to  carry  delegates  to  the  nearest  possible 
point  to  Tallahassee.  All  delegates  to  be  elected  were  declared  in  ad- 
vance by  this  proclamation  to  be  pledged  for  the  abolition  of  slavery. 
The  proclamation  called  for  the  election  of  56  members.  The  repre- 
sentation was  to  be  by  county  according  to  population.  The  greatest 
number  for  any  county  was  four.     See  also  An.  Cyclo.,  1864-5. 

'  Sen.  Docs.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  26,  pp.  203-6. 

»A'.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  8;  AT.  Y.  World,  Nov.  3,  1865. 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION  361 

earlier  (before  the  war)  ^  and  the  men  elected  to  the  con- 
vention, with  but  few  exceptions,  had  supported  the  Con- 
federacy.^ "  In  every  instance  the  friends  of  the  negro 
were  defeated,"  wrote  the  Florida  correspondent  of  the 
New  York  Herald.  "  The  election  as  a  whole  was  a  formal 
declaration  that  the  negro  should  be  a  social,  civil  and  politi- 
cal outcast." 

On  the  25th  of  October  the  convention  assembled  in 
Tallahassee  to  revise  Florida's  constitution  and  to  formally 
acknowledge  the  results  of  the  war.^  Marvin's  message, 
read  before  the  body  at  its  opening  session,  presented  a 
definite  program  and  reiterated  his  views.*  The  first  im- 
portant action  of  the  convention  was  to  declare  by  unani- 
mous vote  that  the  ordinance  of  secession  was  "annulled".'' 
Several  days  later  the  convention  reluctantly  decreed  by 
vote  of  twenty  to  fourteen  "  that  neither  slavery  nor  in- 
voluntary servitude  was  to  exist  in  this  state  "."     There 

*  Sen.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  26,  pp.  206-7.  N.  Y.  World,  Jan.  4, 
1866.  Wallace,  Carpet-bag  Rule  in  Florida,  p.  9.  The  number  of  votes 
cast  was  6,707;  the  number  of  persons  qualified  to  vote  was  8,512. 

»  A^.  Y.  World,  Nov.  3;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  8,  1865.  "  Old  politicians 
are  laid  on  the  shelf.  Only  one  member  of  the  Secession  Convention 
of  '61,  etc.  .  .  .  Mr.  E.  D.  Tracy,  of  Nassau  County,  elected  Chairman. 
.  .  .  He  had  never  before  occupied  a  prominent  position  in  either  state 
or  National  affairs.  .  .  .  Quite  rusty  on  parliamentary  rules  and  gets 
mixed  up."    Also  see  An.  Cyclo.,  1864-5. 

'  An.  Cyclo.,  1864-5. 

*  Sen.  Docs.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  26,  p.  209.  N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  8, 
1865. 

*iV.  Y.  World,  Nov.  10,  1865.  This  action  was  taken  Nov.  28,  the 
fourth  day  of  the  session.  An.  Cycle,  1864-5 ',  Laws  of  Florida,  Con- 
vention of  1865,  Ordinance. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  Nov.  17,  1865.  The  convention  was  influenced  in  its 
action  on  this  question  by  a  letter  from  Seward  to  Marvin.  See  N.  Y. 
Herald,  Nov.  2,  1865. 


362  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

was  not  much  debate  over  this  question,  although  one  mem- 
ber is  credited  with  the  statement  that  he  voted  for  the  or- 
dinance only  because  he  had  sworn  to  do  so ;  that  he  be- 
lieved slavery  "  right  "  and  would  re-establish  it  "  to-mor- 
row "  if  he  had  the  power. ^ 

The  repudiation  of  the  war-debt — contracted  while 
Florida  was  out  of  the  Union — proved  to  be  a  subject  very 
difficult  to  adjust.  The  war  had  obviously  freed  the  slave 
and  crushed  the  governments  founded  on  secession,  but  it 
had  not  necessarily  destroyed  the  value  of  securities  issued 
by  the  state  while  in  another  political  system.  Treasury 
notes  to  the  amount  of  $i,8oo,cx)0  and  bonds  for  $300,000 
constituted  the  war-debt.  The  finance  committee  proposed 
to  scale  down  the  notes  toward  their  approximate  value 
when  issued,  and  to  pay  at  this  lower  figure.  They  advised 
paying  $1  gold  for  every  $10  in  notes  outstanding;  and  the 
payment  of  the  bonds  in  full.^ 

Marvin  counseled  unqualified  repudiation.  The  debt  was 
an  honest  debt  and  there  was  bitter  opposition  to  repudia- 
tion. The  governor  also  counseled  the  extension  of  civil 
rights  in  the  courts  to  the  negro.  These  two  questions — re- 
pudiation and  the  negro's  civil  rights — engrossed  the  atten- 
tion of  the  convention.  Other  matters  were  of  subordinate 
interest.  * 

*  N.  Y.  Times.  Nov.  17,  1865. 

'  A^.  Y.  World,  Nov.  17,  1865.  The  Finance  Committee  declared  that 
the  debt  was  an  honest  debt  and  should  be  paid.  The  advocates  of 
repudiation  claimed  that  to  pay  the  debt  would  be  to  enrich  a  crowd 
of  dishonest  speculators  who  had  bought  up  the  notes  and  bonds  at  a 
very  low  figure. 

*  N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  19,  1865;  N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  25,  1865.  Benj. 
Truman  stated  that  Marvin  told  him  that  the  convention  was  decidedly 
against  admitting  n^gro  testimony  in  the  courts  and  that  some  dele- 
gates came  pledged  to  vote  against  it.  At  several  points  in  the  state, 
political  meetings  had  been  held  before  the  assembling  of  the  conven- 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION  3(33 

Some  of  the  members  were  looking  forward  to  election 
to  the  legislature  or  other  political  offices,  and  therefore 
refrained  from  following  a  very  positive  policy.  Both  re- 
pudiation of  the  war-debt  and  the  extension  of  civil  rights 
to  the  black  encountered  opposition/  Finally  the  conven- 
tion shifted  for  a  time  the  burden  of  repudiation  in  decid- 
ing by  a  vote  of  twenty-five  to  twenty-one  to  lay  the  ques- 
tion of  repudiation  before  the  people  in  the  election  to  fol- 
low. The  voter  was  to  mark  "  pay  "  or  "  no  pay  "  on  his 
ballot.^  By  a  vote  of  twenty-six  to  nineteen  the  negro  was 
given  the  right  to  testify  in  all  criminal  and  civil  cases  in 
which  one  of  his  color  was  concerned.  He  could  sue  and 
be  sued  in  court  but  was  not  allowed  to  serve  on  juries.* 
The  ballot  in  the  new  constitution  was  granted  by  unani- 
mous vote  solely  to  "  white  males  ",  and  in  a  sort  of  obiter 
dictum  the  body  declared  its  unqualified  disapproval  of  any 
project  for  enfranchising  the  negro.* 

Matters  stood  thus  on  the  eve  of  adjourning  sine  die, 
when  a  telegram  from  President  Johnson  to  Governor 
Holden,  of  North  Carolina,  was  laid  before  the  convention. 
It  urged  repudiation  as  a  prerequisite  for  re-admission  to 
the  Union.  Its  influence  was  sufficient  to  decide  the  conven- 
tion. By  a  vote  of  thirty-three  to  nine  the  war-debt  was 
repudiated." 

tion,  at  which  meetings  resolutions  were  adopted  on  the  questions  of 
repudia'ion  and  the  negro.  For  example,  see  Florida  Times,  Oct.  5, 
1865  (published  by  H.  Reed,  a  Northern  man),  for  an  account  of  a 
meeting  in  Lake  City  of  "  loyal "  men,  that  declared  for  repudiation  of 
debt  and  abolition  of  slavery. 

»  N.  Y.  Times,  Nov.  17,  1865. 

'  N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  19,  1865.    Action  taken  Nov.  2nd. 

»  N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  23,  1865. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  Nov.  17,  1865. 

'AT.  Y.  Times,  Nov.  26,  1865;  An.  Cyclo.,  1864-5;  Laws  of  Florida, 
Convention  of  '65,  Ordinance  no.  6,  passed  Nov.  6. 


364 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


On  November  7th  the  convention  adjourned/  This  body 
had  revised  the  commonwealth  constitution  to  conform 
once  more  with  that  of  the  United  States,  had  acknowl- 
edged the  obvious  political  and  social  change  wrought  by 
the  war,  had  granted  the  black  the  protection  of  the  courts, 
and  had  clearly  announced  its  hostility  to  negro  enfranchise- 
ment.^ The  opponents  of  repudiation  attempted  to  have 
the  constitution  submitted  to  popular  vote  for  acceptance 
or  rejection.  A  majority  was  sufficiently  wise  to  defeat  the 
project. 

The  convention  had  fully  complied  in  essential  points 
with  the  indirect  dictates  of  the  national  administration.' 
A  minority  had  all  along  outspokenly  opposed  and  criticised 
what  was  termed  "  Presidential  dictation  ",  but  this  minor- 
ity was  not  sufficiently  bold  or  sufficiently  strong  to  mater- 
ially influence  the  outcome.*  One  observer  of  the  Florida 
convention  wrote:  "  In  my  observation  of  twenty-five  years 
among  legislative  bodies  it  has  never  been  my  lot  to  witness 
an  assemblage  where  there  was  so  little  asperity  of  feeling 
or  excitement,  or  where  there  was  manifested  a  deeper  or 
more  earnest  desire  for  the  public  weal.  .  .  .  The  conven- 
tion did  its  work  fairly  and  squarely."  ^ 

However  squarely  the  convention  might  have  met  and 
dealt  with  the  issues,  its  record  is  that  of  a  body  determined 
to  go  only  so  far  as  necessity  forced  it  in  acknowledging 
some  results  of  the  war.     The  constitution  provided  for  a 

'  N.  Y.  Times,  Nov.  26,  1865. 

»  See  interesting  editorial  comment,  N.  Y.  Times,  Nov.  21,  1865. 

»  See  letter  of  Seward  to  Marvin,  N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  2,  1865;  An. 
Cyclo.,  1864-5;  N.  Y.  World,  Nov.  3,  1865,  editorial  comment. 

*  See  criticism  by  Gen.   Finley,   Finley  to  Johnson,   Nov.   18,   1865, 
Johnson  Papers. 

»  N.  Y.  Times,  Nov.  26,  Dec.  25,  1865. 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION  365 

white  man's  government.  The  state  apportionment  for 
representation  in  the  legislature  was  the  same  as  under  the 
slavery  regime,  a  negro  counting  three-fifths  of  a  white 
man.  An  ordinance  adopted  concerning  vagrancy  bound 
the  black  to  a  condition  which  his  Northern  friends  defined 
as  "  semi-peonage  ".^  The  suffrage  was  restricted  to  "  free 
white  male  persons  of  21  years  or  more,  and  none  others  ". 
Was  this  a  liberal  constitution?  ^  Historically  considered 
it  was  liberal.  It  did  not  extend  the  suffrage  to  the  black, 
and  became  to  Charles  Sumner  and  other  Radicals  in  the 
North 

the  work  of  a  pretended  convention — a  constitution  which, 
after  recognizing  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  therefore  the 
citizenship  of  those  who  were  once  slaves,  proceeds  actually  to 
decree  their  disfranchisement;  and  Senators  are  expected  to 
recognize  such  an  instrument  as  a  Republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment— an  instrument  which  begins  by  the  denial  of  equality 
to  nearly  one-half  of  its  citizens.* 

The  convention  fixed  November  29th  as  the  day  for  the 
election  of  a  legislature,  governor,  and  members  to  the  Fed- 
eral Congress.  In  this  election,  as  in  the  one  preceding, 
the  ex-slave-holding  class  controlled  the  situation.*  Only 
about  4,000  votes  were  cast — less  than  the  number  polled 
for  delegates  to  the  constitutional  convention.'  14,000 
had  been  the  voting  strength  of  Florida  in  1861.     Some 

'  Laws  of  Florida,  convention  of  '65,  ordinance  no.  4,  Nov.  4. 

■  See  comment,  N.  Y.  Times,  Nov.  17,  1865. 

»  Cong.  Globe,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  1865-6,  pt.  i,  p.  313. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1864-5.  A^.  Y.  Times,  Dec.  25,  1865.  Benjamin  Truman 
stated,  "  At  the  last  election  the  significant  thing  was  the  fact  that 
the  straight-out  Union  candidates  for  Congress  were  defeated  and 
the  men  elected  cannot  take  the  Test  Oath,"  etc. 

^  An.  Cyclo.,  1864-5. 


366  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

men  in  Florida  were  still  excluded  from  the  benefits  of  the 
Amnesty  Proclamation  of  May  29th;  and  many  who  could 
vote  were  not  sufficiently  interested  to  go  to  the  polls. 
More  than  8,000  were  registered.  Only  one-half  of  those 
who  could  vote,  therefore,  had  actually  cast  their  ballots. 
The  Union-Republicans  of  Florida  exerted  small  influence 
on  this  election. 

David  S.  Walker,  an  Old-Line  Whig  and  an  ex-Confed- 
erate, was  chosen  governor  without  an  opposing  candidate.^ 
Ferdinand  McLeod,  of  West  Florida,  another  ex-Whig, 
was  elected  to  Congress — and  it  was  declared  at  the  time 
that  he  could  not  take  the  Federal  Test  Oath.^  The  legis- 
lature was  composed  of  ex-slaveholders  and  veterans  of  the 
Confederate  army.  They  were  good  men — among  the  most 
substantial  and  reliable  citizens  of  Florida — but  the  Radi- 
cals in  the  North  condemned  them.  "  I  wish  to  call  your 
attention  to  the  actual  state  of  things  there"  (Florida), 
said  Charles  Sumner  before  the  United  States  Senate, 

as  it  is  represented  to  me  by  thoroughly  competent  witnesses. 
[Reading]  "  The  election  has  been  held  and,  as  you  may  ex- 
pect, rebels  elected.  The  legislators  are  four-fifths  rebel  offi- 
cers, from  Brig.  Gen.  Joseph  Finegan  down  to  a  corporal. 
Gen.  Barney  has  not  yet  obtained  his  pardon.     The  people  of 

*  Wallace,  Carpetbag  Rule,  p.  17:  "The  Old  Whigs  seem  to  have  had 
an  understanding  that  they  would  not  vote  for  a  Democrat,  as  they 
charged  the  Democrats  with  having  brought  on  the  war,  and  as  David 
S.  Walker  had  been  one  of  the  most  popular  leaders  of  the  Old  Whig 
party  he  became  the  candidate  by  general  consent,  the  Democrats 
being  anxious  to  get  back  into  the  Union  by  the  help  of  either  friend 
or  foe." 

*  A'^.  Y.  Times,  Dec.  25,  1865.  W.  W.  Kelly  was  chosen  Lieut.-Gov.  ; 
B.  F.  Allen,  Secretary  of  State;  J.  B.  Galbrai  h,  Attorney-General; 
L.  G.  Pyles,  Comptroller;  C.  H.  Austin,  Treasurer;  T.  T.  Long,  Judge 
of  Suwanee  Circuit;  E.  A.  Putnam,  Judge  of  East  Circuit.  See  An. 
Cyclo.,  1864-5. 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION  367 

Florida  are  more  hostile  than  they  ever  have  been.  They  were 
surrendered  too  soon,"  ^ 

Governor  Marvin's  observations  indicate  no  such  danger 
as  Sumner  professed  to  see.  The  governor  wrote  to  Secre- 
tary Seward :  "  What  is  very  remarkable  is  that  as  a  gen- 
eral rule  the  most  zealous  original  secessionists  accept  the 
results  of  the  war  in  a  better  spirit  than  the  original  Union 
men  who  got  dragged  into  it  against  their  will."  '  Benjamin 
Truman,  who  was  in  Florida  during  December,  1865,  in 
his  report  on  the  temper  of  the  South,  declared  that 

the  rank  and  file  of  the  disbanded  Southern  army — those  who 
remained  in  at  the  end — are  the  backbone  and  sinew  of  the 
South.  .  .  .  To  the  disbanded  regiments  of  the  rebel  army, 
both  officers  and  men,  I  look  with  great  confidence  as  the  best 
and  altogether  most  hopeful  element  of  the  South,  the  real 
basis  of  reconstruction  and  the  material  of  worthy  citizenship. 
On  a  thousand  battlefields  they  have  tested  the  invincible  power 
of  that  Government  they  vainly  sought  to  overthrow,  and  along 
a  thousand  picket-lines  and  under  the  friendly  flag  of  truce 
they  have  learned  that  the  soldiers  of  the  Union  bore  them  no 
hatred  and  shared  with  them  the  common  attributes  of  human- 
ity Around  the  returned  soldier  of  the  South  gathers  the 
same  circle  of  admiring  friends  that  we  see  around  the  mil- 
lions of  hearthstones  in  our  own  section,  and  from  him  they 
are  slowly  learning  the  lesson  of  charity  and  brotherhood.  I 
know  of  very  few  more  potent  influences  at  work  in  promot- 
ing real  and  lasting  reconciliation  and  reconstruction  than  the 
influence  of  the  returned  Southern  soldier.^ 

*  Cong.  Globe,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  1865-6,  pt.  i,  p.  313. 

*  Sen.  Docs.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  26,  pp.  203-6. 

*  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  43.  Report  of  Truman,  April  9, 
1866.  Truman  was  in  Florida  from  the  7th  through  the  20th  of  De- 
cember, 1865. 


368  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Governor-elect  Walker  was  not  an  aggressive  man,  and 
in  no  sense  an  irreconcilable.  He  was  a  quiet  Southern 
gentleman  of  Central  Florida  with  a  well-deserved  popu- 
larity for  his  moderate  views.  He  was  experienced  in 
politics,  had  held  slaves,  had  openly  opposed  secession,  and 
like  thousands  of  other  ex-Whigs,  had  gone  with  his  state 
when  the  crisis  was  past  in  1861.  He  came  into  office  in 
troubled  times.  Vindictive  and  ignorant  politicians  North 
stood  ready  to  exaggerate  into  something  sinister  every 
trouble  that  might  afflict  the  badly-demoralized  South. 

Civil  law  in  Florida  was  partially  restored  by  military 
proclamation  late  in  November.  All  civil  officials  of  the 
state  and  localities  were  thereupon  directed  by  the  provi- 
sional governor  to  resume  the  functions  of  their  offices. 
The  military  reserved  to  itself  the  jurisdiction  of  the  more 
serious  offenses,  such  as  murder,  rape,  incendiarism,  riot- 
ous assemblage,  highway  robbery,  etc.^  On  December  ist, 
President  Johnson  restored  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus.' 

There  was  comparative  tranquility  in  Rorida  during 
the  autumn  of  1865.  A  Southern  correspondent  of  the 
New  York  Herald  concluded  that  "  there  has  been  less 
trouble  in  Florida  between  citizens  and  United  States  sol- 
diers, and  with  freedmen  than  in  any  other  Southern  state, 
and  the  state  of  feeling  is  better  than  in  any  other  South- 
ern state  ".' 

A  survey  of  conditions  in  the  South  at  this  time  supports 
this  conclusion.     What  is  the  explanation?     Some  of  the 

^  N.  Y.  Times,  December  25,  1865;  N.  Y.  World,  Jan.  4,  1866. 

•  Executive  Proclamation,  McPherson,  History  of  Reconstruction, 
p.  15.  Also,  A''.  Y.  Herald,  Dec.  i,  1865.  For  a  disparaging  view  of 
the  restoration  of  civil  rule  in  Florida,  see  N.  Y.  Daily  News,  Dec 
15,  1865. 

•  N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  15,  1865. 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION  369 

obvious  causes  of  peace  were:  i,  the  popularity  and  wisdom 
of  Governor  Marvin ;  2,  the  moderate  counsel  and  course  of 
the  older  leaders  in  Florida — mostly  ex-Confederates;' 3, 
the  absence  of  an  urban  population  and  many  Federal  office- 
holders ;  4,  the  course  taken  by  the  public  press.  The  jour- 
nals of  Florida  had  systematically  taught  prompt  compli- 
ance with  the  terms  of  the  conquering  power.  "  Now  as 
a  general  thing,"  wrote  a  keen  and  bitter  observer  from 
the  North  in  Florida, 

the  editors  in  the  South  are  almost  as  disloyal  and  contemp- 
tible, and  almost  as  malign  and  mean  as  the  ministers  of  the 
Gospel.  I  am  happy  to  do  Florida  editors  justice  to  say  that 
they  are  far  ahead  of  their  brothers  in  the  South,  with  a  few 
honorable  exceptions.  All  over  the  state,  with  but  one  excep- 
tion, the  editors  have  pursued  a  manly,  vigorous  course.  They 
are  loyally  and  patriotically  at  work,  and  tlieir  rusty  little  col- 
umns teem  with  noble  sentiments.  There  are  10  papers  in  the 
state.  Seven  have  cuts  of  the  American  flag  at  the  head  of 
the  editorial  columns,  while  no  other  paper  in  the  South  that 
I  know  of,  except  the  Savannah  Republican,  has  such.  I  called 
upon  the  Jacksonville  papers  a  few  days  ago,  and  also  on  the 
Lake  City  papers.  To-day  I  called  on  the  editors  of  the  Talla- 
hassee papers  and  found  them  to  be  fair-minded,  upright  men. 
They  understand  their  position  fully.  .  .  .  Really,  Florida 
towers  above  her  sister  states.  .  .  .  Too  much  praise  cannot 
be  given  Provisional-Governor  Marvin.  Florida  has  stepped 
forward  and  bravely  accepted  the  issues  of  the  war.  .  .  .  No- 
where in  this  state  is  seen  the  staggering  indolence  and  filth 

^  N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  17,  1865,  for  the  opinion  and  advice  of  Yulee; 
N.  Y.  Daily  News,  1865  (Townsend  Library,  Columbia  Univer- 
sity), letter  of  Mallory  to  Chas.  E.  Dyke  (editor  of  Floridian),  Nov. 
I,  1865;  N.  Y.  Times,  Dec.  25,  1865;  An.  Cyclo.,  1864-5,  resume  of 
Walker's  ideas;  Wallace,  Carpet-bag  Rule,  chapts.  1-3;  Yulee  to  Mer- 
rick, May  30,  1865,  Johnson  Papers. 


370  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

(among  the  freedmen)  that  is  so  painfully  noticeable  in  Georgia 
and  Alabama.  ...  I  find  more  bona  fide  loyalty  and  earnest- 
ness in  Florida  than  in  any  other  state  which  I  have  yet  visited. 
Of  course  at  present  there  is  very  little  love  manifested  for 
the  Union  or  enthusiasm  at  the  overthrow  of  the  Confederate 
Government.^ 

As  a  matter  of  fact  society  was  a  long  ways  from  being 
in  a  settled  or  peaceful  condition.  To  the  keen  observer 
painful  symptoms  of  social  mal-adjustment  were  evident 
by  the  autumn  of  1865.  Hostility  between  blacks  and 
whites  was  beginning  to  show  itself.^  Many  negroes  were 
still  roving  over  the  country,  stealing  and  generally  refus- 
ing to  work.^  Negro  soldiers  were  garrisoned  in  the  towns 
and  villages,  and  more  than  once  their  presence  proved  un- 
fortunately exciting  to  the  more  choleric  portion  of  the 
white  population.*     Wild  ideas  began  to  lay  hold  of  the 

^  N.  Y.  Times,  Dec.  25,  1865. 

2  Tallahassee  Floridian,  1865,  passim.  A  gin-house  was  burned  near 
Marianna  which  precipitated  conflict  between  blacks  and  whites.  A 
company  of  7th  U.  S.  Infantry  was  ordered  to  the  place  to  put  down 
disturbance. 

A^  Y.  Times,  Oct.  i,  1865.  Frequent  reports  that  negroes  were  being 
enticed  on  board  ships  in  Florida  waters  and  taken  to  Cuba  to  be  sold 
as  slaves.  For  this  reported  kidnaping  see  Sumner's  speech  in  U.  S. 
Senate,  Cong.  Globe,  39th  C,  ist  S.  (1865-6),  pt.  i,  p.  313. 

A'^.  Y.  Herald,  Dec.  3,  1865.  Fight  between  blacks  and  whites  at  a 
local  election  in  Lake  City.  Negro  troops  in  garrison  attempt  to  stop 
the  trouble  and  make  it  worse.     One  negro  killed. 

'  N.  Y.  Times,  Dec.  25  and  27,  1865.  In  his  report  to  the  Times, 
Truman  stated,  "  The  freedmen  in  Florida  are  getting  on  well.  Flor- 
ida had  about  60,000  colored  at  the  outbreak  of  war.  About  20,000 
were  urged  or  sold  into  slavery  during  the  war  from  neighboring 
states.  As  is  the  case  everywhere  there  is  much  suffering  among  the 
blacks."  See  memoranda  on  number  of  slaves  in  Florida  in  1861  from 
Milton  Papers  (no  date).  These  gave  the  number  at  a  little  more 
than  51,000.     Gamage  to  Johnson,  Oct.  30,  1865,  Johnson  Papers. 

*N.   Y.  Herald,  November  15;  A^   Y.  World,  November  10;  A^.  Y. 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION 


371 


African's  mind  that  the  property  of  his  late  master  would 
be  given  him  on  or  about  the  first  of  January,  1866/  In 
some  places  experiments  already  had  been  made  in  giving 
the  ballot  to  the  black  in  local  elections.^  Some  native 
whites  seemed  bent  on  exerting  undue  physical  control  over 
the  black  in  spite  of  the  clear  issues  of  the  war  and  the 
state  of  public  opinion  North.*    Men  and  women  who  had 

Times,  December  25,  October  i,  1865.  Carriage  to  Johnson,  October 
30,  1865,  Johnson  Papers. 

Laws  of  Florida,  Convention  of  1865,  Resolution  No.  6,  Nov.  6, 
praying  the  President  to  remove  negro  troops  from  the  state  that 
"  good  order  and  peace  may  be  preserved,  etc."  Camage  wrote  to 
the  President :  "  The  freedman,  I  find,  and  especially  where  negro 
troops  are  stationed,  lazy,  idling,  thievish,  and  impudent.  There  is 
really  danger  of  an  insurrection  that  would  surprise  you  if  you  were 
aware  of  it  raised  principally  from  the  secret  admoniuons  of  colored 
troops,"  etc.  By  the  end  of  December  (1865),  there  were  only  three 
regiments  of  Federal  troops  in  the  state — 7th  White  and  34th  and  99th 
Colored  Infantry.  Benjamin  Truman  stated  that  there  were  "hardly 
enough  troops  in  the  state.  The  colored  troops  have  been  acting 
very  badly." 

*  Speech  of  Marvin,  N.  Y.  Daily  News,  Oct.  27,  1865 ;  N.  Y.  Times, 
Dec.  25,  1865.  "  Christmas  will  soon  be  here,"  stated  Marvin,  "  and 
everyone  of  a  timid  mind  in  this  section  of  country  believes  that  the 
'  niggers  are  going  to  clean  us  out,'  or  at  least  a  great  many  think  that 
there  will  be  attempts  at  insurrection.  ...  I  do  not  think  so." 

*  Chase  to  Johnson,  May  25,  1865,  Johnson  Papers.  "  An  election  for 
mayor,  councilmen  and  other  officers  was  held  (at  Fernandina)  .  .  . 
the  blacks  and  whites  voting.  When  I  arrived  I  was  asked  to  swear 
in  the  mayor-elect,  Mr.  Mot,  a  French  gentleman  of  great  intellectual- 
ity, etc.  ...  Of  course  I  complied  and  had  the  honor  of  administering 
the  oath  of  office  to  the  first  mayor  of  Fernandina."  It  was  commonly 
reported  that  the  Mr.  Mot  in  question  had  been  a  tutor  in  Chase's 
family  and  owed  his  presence  in  Florida  to  a  treasury  appointment  by 
Chase.  Both  he  and  Chase  were  interested  in  the  negroes  voting. 
See  also  N.  Y.  Times,  July  2;  N.  Y.  Evening  Express,  June  14,  1865. 

'  See  order  of  Gen.  Asboth  at  Pensacola,  N.  Y.  Herald,  Sept.  8, 
1865.  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Aug.  — ,  1865,  letter  of  Aug.  10  from  Jackson- 
ville, affirming  the  intention  of  some  whites  to  substitute  a  system  of 


372  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

followed  the  fortunes  of  the  Confederacy  did  not  embrace 
with  joy  the  end  of  their  dreams  in  that  direction.  "  In 
the  breast  of  nearly  every  man  you  meet  a  conflict  is  rag- 
ing. Old  ideas,  old  convictions,  revered  customs,  tradi- 
tional habits  and  everything  relating  to  business,  social  and 
civil  life  is  uprooted  and  scattered."  ^ 

Also,  the  political  status  of  Florida  in  the  Union  was 
still  undetermined.  What  would  be  the  final  judgment  of 
the  North  on  Reconstruction?  Some  people  expected,  no 
doubt,  a  broad  and  statesmanlike  view  by  the  victorious 
section.  But  a  section  in  order  to  have  a  statesmanlike 
view  must  have  at  least  a  statesman  whose  word  is  heard 
and  heeded.  Opposition  to  the  United  States  was  at  an  end 
in  the  South,  we  know  now.  The  South  had  been  broken 
on  the  wheel.  The  great  cause  of  difference  had  been  re- 
moved. A  Florida  Unionist  presented  this  idea  when  he  de- 
clared :  "  Slavery,  the  prolific  source  of  all  our  woes,  is 
dead.  The  cause  of  that  embittered  feeling  to  which  I  have 
alluded  is  past;  let  the  feelings  of  bitterness  pass  with  it. 
If  maintaining  the  institution  of  slavery  was  an  offense 
deserving  punishment,  God  knows  the  punishment  of  the 
late  slaveholder  is  equal  to  the  offense,  however  great  its 
enormity."^ 

But  in  spite  of  these  sad  sentiments  and  possible  political 
difficulties,  inevitable  after  a  great  civil  war,  the  economic 
situation  in  Florida  was  improving.     Business  began  to 

peonage  for  the  system  of  slavery  abolished  by  the  war.  Truman  in  the 
N.  Y.  Times,  Dec.  25,  1865,  declared  that  there  were  "two  classes  of 
fanatics  in  regard  to  the  negro.  One  would  elevate  the  black  at  the 
expense  of  the  white  man.  The  other  begrudges  the  black  his  free- 
dom and  seeks  to  annihilate  him  because  of  his  emancipation." 

» N.  Y.  Tribune,  Sept.  5,  1865. 

•  Letter  of  E.  C.  Cabell  in  De  Bovfs  Review,  Jan.,  1866. 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION 


373 


"  pick  up  "  during  the  late  summer  of  1865.  The  cotton 
crop  was  abundant  even  with  the  uncertain  condition  of 
labor.  ^  Much  cotton  that  had  been  hidden  away  during 
the  war  came  to  light  after  the  close  of  hostilities.  This 
with  the  confiscated  cotton  of  the  late  Confederate  govern- 
ment served  as  a  substantial  initial  basis  for  trade.* 
"  Shortly  after  the  close  of  hostilities  in  1865  there  was 
tremendous  activity  in  the  cotton  business  along  the  Chatta- 
hoochee," stated  a  one-time  cotton  clerk  in  Apalachicola. 
"  Probably  as  many  as  200,000  bales  were  shipped  out  of 
Apalachicola  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  '65.  ...  St. 
Marks  shipped  50,000  bales  during  the  summer  and  fall  of 
'65."  ^  A  filip  was  given  business.  Lumber  mills  were 
being  repaired  and  rebuilt.  Men  began  again  to  "  get  out 
timber  "  from  Florida's  forests  and  raft  it  down  the  creeks 
and  rivers  to  the  sea.*    Merchant  ships  once  more  came  and 

^  N.  Y.  Times,  Dec.  25,  1865.  Truman  stated :  "  Agriculture  is  in  a 
good  condition.  The  chances  are  that  this  year's  crop  will  be  the 
largest  in  Florida's  history.  .  .  .  Five  times  as  much  cotton  has  been 
raised  as  was  calculated  by  commercial  men  North  and  South.  Thou- 
sands of  bales  are  piled  up  all  along  the  railroad  awaiting  transpor- 
tation." 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  17,  1865;  Oct.  i,  1865.  It  was  estimated  that 
30,000  bales  of  cotton  were  in  the  state  at  the  time  of  the  surrender. 
Since  surrender  (till  October)  more  than  6,000  bales  were  sent  from 
Jacksonville.  Large  cotton  business  was  being  done  at  Apalachicola 
and  St.  Marks.  A  Jacksonville  correspondent  estimated  the  number  of 
bales  in  Florida  at  end  of  war  at  50,000. 

'  Conversation  with  Wm.  Trimmer,  of  Escambia  County,  Florida. 
This  estimate  of  the  amount  of  the  cotton  sent  from  St.  Marks  and 
Apalachicola  is  too  high. 

*  A^.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  17,  and  Oct.  i,  1865.  Lumber  and  timber  were 
coming  into  Jacksonville  in  small  quantities.  400,000  feet  of  sawed 
lumber,  1,000  sticks  of  timber  (pine),  1,000  sticks  of  cedar,  1,000  bar- 
rels of  tar,  and  250  barrels  of  turpentine  were  shipped  from  Jackson- 
ville during  the  first  four  months  after  surrender.  See  also  N.  Y. 
Tribune,  Sept.  5,  1865. 


374  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

went  unmolested  from  the  recently  deserted  harbors/  The 
owners  of  the  depleted  and  disorganized  railways  sought 
capital  for  repairs  and  new  equipment  to  meet  the  revival 
in  business.^  Merchants  brought  in  new  stocks  of  goods 
from  the  North/  In  Florida  there  were  unmistakable  in- 
dications of  economic  revival  accompanying  political  re- 
organization. 

By  the  end  of  1865  the  blacks  had  become  to  a  consid- 
erable degree  the  wards  of  the  national  government  under 
the  tutelage  of  United  States  marshals  and  Freedmen's 
Bureau  agents.  Negroes  were  also  undergoing  political  in- 
struction. Their  initial  education  in  this  regard  was 
gleaned  from  the  gossip  of  military  camps,*  from  the  con- 
versation of  Northern  philanthropists  and  politicians,  from 
Freedmen's  Bureau  agents,  and  from  secret  societies.  The 
last  were  potent  means  for  organizing  the  negroes  and  de- 
veloping their  latent  possibilities  as  future  electors. 

*  The  blockade  of  Southern  ports  was  removed  by  Proclamation  of 
the  President  May  22nd,  to  take  effect  after  July  i,  1865.  McPherson, 
History  of  Reconstruction,  p.  9. 

'  A''.  Y.  Times,  Oct.  i ;  Dec.  25,  1865.  Says  one  report,  "  Since  the 
road  has  been  opened  to  Quincy  the  company  has  been  compelled  to 
refuse  freight  destined  for  that  station,  the  warehouse  being  filled  to 
the  utmost  capacity  and  the  side-tracks  with  loaded  cars,  etc." 

*  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Aug.,  1865,  letter  of  Aug.  10  from  Florida;  N.  Y. 
Herald,  Nov.  8,  1865.  "  Warehouses  packed  with  cotton  awaiting 
shipment  of  goods  from  the  North.  Those  with  sufficient  capital  are 
engaged  in  cotton  speculation.  The  smaller  fry  are  buying  small 
stocks  of  goods  and  starting  in  businrss,"  etc. 

*  N.  Y.  World,  Nov.  10,  1865.  "  Gen.  Grant's  order  disbanding 
negro  troops  was  received  with  unusual  satisfaction.  Their  presence 
has  galled  and  irritated  the  whites,  while  they  fostered  insolence  and 
idleness  among  the  negroes,  etc."  N.  Y.  Times,  Dec.  25,  1865.  Truman 
wrote  from  Florida:  "The  greatest  source  of  trouble  (with  the  freed- 
men)  is  the  colored  soldiers.  They  incite  the  freedmen  to  a  commis- 
sion of  crime,  etc."  Also  Gamage  to  Johnson,  Oct.  30,  1865 ;  Reed  to 
Blair,  June  26,  1865,  Johnson  Papers.  For  a  defense  of  black  troops, 
see  Wallace,  Carpet-bag  Rule,  p.  19. 


POLITICAL  REORGANIZATION  375 

By  mid-summer  of  '65,  treasury  agents  and  military  offi- 
cials had  succeeded  in  establishing  chapters  of  the  "  Union 
League  of  America  "  at  several  points  within  Florida/  In 
October,  soon  after  the  arrival  of  T.  W.  Osborn  in  Florida, 
another  secret  political  and  benevolent  society  for  blacks 
was  launched — the  "  Lincoln  Brotherhood  ".  Osborn  was 
probably  founder  and  head  of  this  organization.  It  spread 
rapidly  throughout  the  northern  portion  of  the  state.  The 
parent  group  was  in  Tallahassee.  Initiation  into  these 
secret  societies  was  made  sufficiently  mysterious  to  favor- 
ably impress  the  black  with  their  importance  and  satisfy 
his  longing  for  some  sort  of  hoodooism.  Amid  the  rattle 
of  gun-locks,  the  giving  of  solemn  oaths,  and  a  sufficiency 
of  mumble-jumble,  the  candidate  stood  in  a  dim  light  and 
swore  fealty  to  the  Union-Republican  party  and  the  United 
States  constitution.^ 

The  native  whites  looked  askance  upon  these  societies. 
They  were  primarily  political  organizations.  Their  pro- 
jectors, white  men  from  abroad,  deliberately  aimed  at  the 
political  control  of  the  state  in  the  future  by  means  of  the 
negro  vote.  It  did  not  take  much  perspicacity  to  see  the 
drift  of  things.     The  Southern  whites,  as  a  class,  were 

*  Chase  to  Johnson,  May  21,  1865,  Johnson  Papers.  "  Nor  do  I  know 
that  I  have  mentioned  the  fact  that  everywhere  throughout  the  coun- 
try colored  citizens  are  organizing  Union  Leagues.  I  found  them  in 
a  greater  or  less  degree  of  advancement  in  nearly  every  place.  They 
must  exert  a  great  influence  on  the  future  of  the  class  they  represent, 
and  not  a  little  bit  on  the  character  of  the  states  in  which  they  exist. 
They  form  a  power  which  no  wise  statesman  will  despise."  This  letter 
from  Chase  was  sent  from  Fernandina  after  the  writer  had  visited 
other  states,  and  therefore  referred  to  no  one  state,  but  Reed's  letter 
to  Blair  {Johnson  Papers,  June  26)  indicates  that  Florida  was  in- 
cluded. See  also  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Sept.  5,  1865.  For  facts  concerning 
Union  Leagues  in  general,  see  Fleming,  Doc.  Hist.  Reconst.,  v.  2, 
chap.  7. 

'  Wallace,  Carpet-bag  Rule,  pp.  42-43. 


376  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

positively  opposed  to  negro  enfranchisement.  The  secret 
societies  were  utilized  to  teach  the  negroes  that  they  had 
grievances  against  the  ex-slave-holding  class.  The  black 
was  taught  that  it  was  necessary  to  be  independent  of  his 
former  master ;  that  his  former  master  wished  to  re-enslave 
him.  The  seeds  of  suspicion  were  planted  and  cultivated. 
In  many  cases  the  foregoing  accusation  regarding  re-en- 
slavement was  true.  But  while  many  might  have  wished 
for  the  old  regime,  few  were  fools  enough  to  think  that 
slavery  could  or  would  be  revived. 

In  arraying  race  against  race,  the  record  of  the  Lincoln 
Brotherhoods  and  Union  Leagues  was  damnable  and  gen- 
erally at  wide  variance  with  the  advice  of  the  higher  Fed- 
eral military  officials,  Governor  Marvin,  and  even  General 
O.  O.  Howard  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau.  The  latter  on 
his  visit  to  Florida  in  October,  1865,  extended  to  the  negro 
different  counsel.^ 

»  A^.  Y.  World,  Nov.  17;  A^.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  19,  1865.  At  Tallahassee 
Gen.  Howard  spoke  to  the  freedmen  in  the  negro  Methodist  Church. 
He  advised  them  to  be  polite  and  respectful  to  the  white  people;  to 
make  contracts  with  their  former  masters ;  and  to  "  stick  up  "  to  those 
contracts. 


CHAPTER  XV 

The  Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Public  Opinion 

Unfortunately  for  hopes  of  social  tranquility  the  Fed- 
eral government  during  the  early  autumn  of  1865  definitely 
established  in  Florida  a  special  tribunal  for  the  blacks. 
This  new  tribunal  was  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  created  by 
Federal  statute  of  March  3rd,  1865,  as  a  branch  of  the 
United  States  war  department/  It  proved  to  be  a  higher 
tribunal  than  any  state  court,  when  the  blacks'  interests 
were  involved.  Its  original  objects  were  three,  as  sug- 
gested by  its  full  name,  "  Bureau  of  Refugees,  Freedmen, 
and  Abandoned  Lands."  ^ 

Primarily  it  existed  for  the  protection  of  the  Southern 
negro  and  to  help  that  lately  liberated  class  find  itself  in 
American  society.    The  war  department  announced  that 

the  work  of  the  Bureau  will  be  the  promotion  of  productive 
industry,  the  settlement  of  those  so  lately  slaves  in  homes  of 
their  own;  the  guarantee  of  their  absolute  freedom  and  their 
right  to  justice  before  the  law  as  set  forth  in  the  proclama- 
tions of  the  President  and  the  laws  of  Congress;  the  dissem- 
ination of  virtuous  intelligence;  and  to  aid  in  permanently 
establishing  peace  and  securing  property.' 

'  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  v.  13,  pp.  507-509;  on  July  16,  1866,  the 
Bureau  was  continued  for  two  years  and  details  of  administration 
elaborated  by  statu' e,  v.  14,  pp.  174-79. 

'  See  Peirce,  P.  S.,  The  Freedmen's  Bureau  (Un.  of  Iowa  Studies), 
for  the  best  account  of  the  Bureau  in  the  entire  South. 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  Circular  no.  2,  July  24,  1865. 

377 


378  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  negro  was  in  need  of  protection  when  dealing  with 
unscrupulous  whites,  Northern  or  Southern.  He  was  also 
in  need  of  some  aid  in  earning  a  living  under  the  new 
regime  of  freedom,  mainly  because  that  regime  began  with 
Southern  society  poverty-stricken,  demoralized,  and  shaken 
to  its  very  foundations.  But  it  is  very  probable  that  state 
courts  could  have  and  would  have  given  this  aid  wisely; 
and  it  is  extremely  doubtful  if  the  Bureau  in  Florida  ex- 
tended the  desired  protection  and  the  needed  aid  judi- 
ciously or  honestly.  The  institution  was  an  arm  of  the 
Federal  government  designed  in  good  faith  to  bolster  up 
temporarily  society  in  the  South — particularly  black  society 
— amid  the  demoralization  following  the  war  and  after  the 
downfall  of  that  much-maligned  and  ancient  institution, 
chattel  slavery.  The  Bureau  was  founded  in  the  assump- 
tion that  the  Southern  black  unaided  would  not  obtain  jus- 
tice from  the  Southern  white.  In  its  operation  it  affords 
an  example  in  American  history  of  arbitrary,  bureaucratic 
government  from  a  remote  center — a  form  of  political  ata- 
vism suggestive  of  ancient  Babylonia  or  modern  Russia. 

In  September,  1865,  Thomas  W.  Osborn,  late  of  the 
Union  army,  was  appointed  chief  assistant-commissioner 
for  Florida.^  His  appointment  marks  the  official  beginning 
of  the  Bureau's  existence  within  the  state.  For  three 
months  previous  to  this  date  the  army  had  been  the  medium 
of  the  national  government  for  rendering  aid  to  destitute 
people  in  Florida — blacks  and  whites — distributing  gratis 
during  these  months  several  thousand  rations." 

Three  months  after  its  establishment  in  Florida  the 
Bureau  was  in  more  or  less  effective  operation  over  the 
entire  state.     The  general  plan  of  organization  comprised 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  p.  79,  Sept.  13,  Circular  no.  4. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  275-6. 


THE  FREEDMEN'S  BUREAU 


379 


the  distribution  throughout  the  state  of  sub-commissioners 
of  the  Bureau,  each  of  whom  was  entrusted  with  the  super- 
vision of  a  "  sub-district  "  composed  of  several  counties 
— from  two  to  four,  according  to  size  and  accessibility.^ 
Each  of  these  sub-district  chiefs  had  subordinate  to  him  in 
each  county  and  principal  town  a  "  civil  agent "  to  "  attend 
to  details  ".  Each  sub-assistant  commissioner  was  required 
to  report  monthly,  or  oftener,  to  state  headquarters  in  Tal- 
lahassee, and  to  forward  there  all  appeals  from  his  deci- 
sions or  those  of  his  civil  agents.  Each  commanding  offi- 
cer of  a  military  post  was  constituted,  ex-ofhcio,  sub- 
assistant  commissioner  for  the  "  surrounding  district ", 
"  which  arrangement,"  said  General  Foster  in  June,  1866, 
"  unites  more  completely  the  full  benefits  of  military  and 
Bureau  administration."  ^ 

The  sub-assistant  commissioners  were  all  officers  or 
ex-officers  of  the  Union  army.  The  civil  agents  were  local 
judges,  justices  of  the  peace,  discharged  Federal  soldiers 
or  "  citizens  of  character  and  influence  who  were  willing 
to  perform  the  duty  ".' 

Osborn  appointed  the  probate  judges  in  each  county 
agents  of  the  Bureau,  and  in  the  counties  of  Nassau,  Co- 
lumbia, Alachua,  Marion,  and  Jackson  he  called  upon  the 
judges  to  appoint  in  his  name  as  civil  agents  the  county 
clerks  and  justices  of  the  peace.  Governor  Marvin  advised 
these  local  officials  to  comply  with  Osborn's  order  by  serv- 
ing.   Some  of  them  did  so.* 

Here  we  have  a  suggestion  of  co-operation  between  Fed- 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  p.  275.  The  state  was  at  first 
divided  into  five  districts.  An  officer  from  headquarters  (Talla- 
hassee) traversed  the  state  to  explain  to  the  people  at  large  the  objects 
of  the  Bureau. 

*  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  6,  pp.  43-44,  Oct.,  1S66. 

•  Ibid.,  p.  44.  *  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  70,  pp.  86-88. 


380  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

eral  officialdom  and  local  officialdom,  but  like  honor  among 
thieves  it  did  not  extend  far.  Radical  investigators  in 
Florida  from  the  North  condemned  the  local  civil  officials 
because  "  their  prejudices  and  other  personal  qualities  " 
produced  "  moral  incapacity  "  to  treat  the  negro  "  with 
fairness  as  freeman  "/  The  service  was  unpopular  with 
native  whites  and  sometimes  entailed  insults  and  petty  per- 
secutions.^ 

By  June,  1866,  the  work  of  the  Bureau  in  Florida 
was  being  done  by  the  assistant  commissioner  and 
four  staff  officers  at  Tallahassee,  thirteen  sub-assistant 
commissioners  located  at  various  points  in  the  state,  six 
"  civil  agents  ",  four  clerks  (in  Tallahassee),  eight  hospital 
nurses,  a  state  surgeon  and  physician,  a  state  superintendent 
of  education  for  freedmen,  and  fifty-one  school  teachers. 
By  October,  1866,  the  number  of  civil  agents  had  been  in- 
creased from  six  to  twenty-four.  Several  of  the  civil 
agents  received  definite  salaries  from  the  war  department. 
The  others  were  remunerated  by  fees  charged  for  services 
rendered.^ 

Thomas  W.  Osborn — the  first  chief  of  the  Bureau  in 
Florida — was  a  man  of  considerable  energy  and  executive 
ability  far  above  the  average.  He  had  served  during  the 
war  as  an  officer  in  the  24th  Massachusetts  Infantry  and 
had  campaigned  in  Florida.*  He  went  from  the  army 
into  the  Bureau  service  and  retired  from  the  latter  on  June 
nth,    1866,    succeeded   by   General    J.    G.    Foster."^     Os- 

'^  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C.   ist  S.,  no.  27,  pp.   128-129.     Maj.  C.   H. 
Howard,  special  inspector. 
2  Ibid.,  2nd  S.,  no.  6,  p.  44. 
'  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  6,  p.  44. 

*  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  29,  1863;  Jan.  23,  1864;  N.  Y.  Times,  Jan.  23. 
1864. 

*  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  6,  pp.  43-44. 


THE  FREEDMEN'S  BUREAU  381 

born  was  destined  to  be  a  powerful  politician  in  Florida. 
As  Bureau  agent  he  made  friends  readily  among  the  South- 
ern planters  and  at  first  received  commendation  and  praise 
from  the  local  conservative  press.  ^ 

He  addressed  himself  at  once  to  obtaining  from  the  Fed- 
eral treasury  department  records  of  "  abandoned  and  con- 
fiscated "  property ;  to  the  restoration  of  this  property  to 
rightful  owners  when  possible  and  convenient;  to  relieving 
suffering  among  indigent  whites  and  blacks  by  granting 
them  food  and  medical  attention;  and  to  extending  to  the 
negro  the  paternal  protection,  direction,  and  care  of  the 
Bureau. 

On  September  9th  he  announced  in  the  newspapers  of 
the  state  that  application  for  the  restoration  of  abandoned 
property  should  be  addressed  to  him  after  obtaining  from 
the  commander  of  the  nearest  military  post  a  written  ap- 
proval of  the  claim  and  proof  that  the  petitioner  had  sub- 
scribed to  the  Federal  Amnesty  Oath.  All  deeds,  mort- 
gages, and  other  documents  bearing  upon  the  claim  of 
abandoned  or  confiscated  property  in  Florida  were  then  to 
be  submitted  to  Chief  Osborn  at  Tallahassee.^ 

Numerous  claims  were  in  time  sent  to  this  central  office 
and  there  settled  satisfactorily.^     The  treasury  agents  who 

>  N.  Y.  World,  May  31,  1866.  Letter  from  Jacksonville.  A'^.  Y. 
Times,  June  25,  1866,  letter  of  Benj.  Truman,  Fernandina;  Florida 
Union,  Feb.  3,  1866;  N.  Y.  Daily  Mews,  Jan.,  22(?),  1866  (Townsend 
Library). 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  pp.  47,  85,  and  280.  Sp.  Ord. 
no.  5,  Oct.  31,  1865.  "  All  property  in  Apalachicola  held  by  officers 
of  this  Bureau  is  restored  to  owners,"  etc.  Also  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  38th 
C,  2nd  S.,  no.  18. 

3  H.  Rpts.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  30,  p.  15.  Rpt.  of  Dec.  31,  1867,  stat- 
ing that  the  total  number  of  pieces  of  town  property  restored  to 
owners  was  26  and  that  the  number  of  such  pieces  of  property  still 
held  was  299.    H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  70. 


382  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

had  taken  over  abandoned  and  confiscated  property  in  1865 
were  slow  in  relinquishing  to  the  Bureau  agents  the  control 
of  this  property.^ 

The  work  of  the  Bureau  as  an  institution  of  charity  and 
social  control  lay  within  certain  numerous  fairly  distinct 
spheres  of  activity:  namely,  i,  the  issuing  of  rations  to 
indigent  and  destitute  blacks  and  whites;  2,  the  main- 
taining of  an  orphanage  for  blacks,  an  insane  asylum,  a 
hospital,  and  crude  free  medical  dispensaries  for  the  pest 
stricken;^  3,  the  aiding  of  negro  land-seekers  in  locating 
and  homesteading  tracts  of  Federal  land;^  4,  the  organ- 
izing, partly  supporting  and  superintending  of  negro  edu- 
cation; 5,  the  regulating  of  written  contracts  for  labor 
between  white  employer  and  black  employee;  6,  the  over- 
seeing of  the  Freedmen's  savings  banks  in  Jacksonville  and 
Tallahassee;  7,  the  encouraging  of  the  black  to  be  more 
conventional  in  his  or  her  marital,  sexual,  and  parental  re- 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  pp.  280-85.  Bureau- agent 
Webster  was  sent  in  January,  1866,  to  Pensacola  to  take  over  the 
control  of  property  from  Treas.  Agt.  Ricks,  but  the  titles  to  the  prop- 
erty were  not  obtained  from  Ricks.  Osborn  stated  that  this  was  the 
third  time  that  he  had  made  such  a  demand,  each  time  "  for  one 
reason  or  another "  Ricks  refusing  to  surrender  necessary  descrip- 
tions of  properties.  Simon  Conant,  Bureau  agent,  was  sent  into  East 
Florida  in  the  autumn  of  1865  to  take  over  the  remaining  property 
seized  for  non-payment  of  Federal  taxes.  The  Treas.  agts.  were  ab- 
sent and  the  transfer  not  made.  See  provision  in  Federal  statute,  July 
16,  1866,  concerning  abandoned  property,  sections  4  and  5,  U.  S.  Sta- 
tutes at  Large,  v.  14,  pp.  174-9. 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70;  41st  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  142,  pp.  18, 
24.  One  Bureau  hospital  was  maintained  in  Florida.  The  report  of 
Feb.,  1870,  gives  force  employed  as  two  physicians  and  six  nurses. 
653  negroes  were  treated  in  this  hospital  (at  Magnolia)  during  the 
year  1868-9. 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  57,  p.  18;  also  39th  C,  ist  S..  no. 
70- 


THE  FREED  MEN'S  BUREAU  383 

lations;^  8,  the  furnishing  to  the  negro  of  a  perfectly 
free  and  always  willing  tribunal  (the  Bureau  Courts)  for 
the  successful  adjudication  of  his  civil  claims  and  penal  mis- 
fortunes. The  institution  also  educated  the  negro  in  party 
politics,  but  this  function  can  hardly  be  considered  within 
its  legitimate  sphere  as  an  institution  of  government. 

This  was  the  Bureau's  legal  scope.  What  was  the  meas- 
ure of  its  actual  activities  ? 

At  the  close  of  the  war  the  negro  population  of  Florida 
was  above  65,000 — practically  all  liberated  slaves.  Two- 
thirds  of  this  population  was  segregated  in  the  half-dozen 
cotton  counties  of  North  Central  Florida.^  Here  the 
duties  of  the  Bureau  were  heaviest. 

The  simplest  and  most  direct  aid  which  it  rendered  the 
inhabitants  of  Florida  was  the  granting  of  rations.  Dur- 
ing the  two  years  following  the  close  of  the  war  hundreds 
of  indigent  blacks  and  whites  called  upon  the  Bureau  for 
food.  92,191  rations  were  given  gratis  between  June  ist, 
1865,  and  May  ist,  1866.^     It  is  not  possible  to  estimate 

^  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  pp.  108-11.  See  Gen.  Ords. 
no.  8,  Aug.  II,  1865,  presenting  certain  marriage  rules  for  freedmen. 
Men  21  and  women  18  were  eligible  for  marriage.  All  who  wished  to 
marry  must  show  evidence  of  not  being  married  or  of  being  separ- 
ated for  at  least  three  years.  Churches  and  civil  officials  were  allowed 
to  grant  permits  of  marriage  for  50  cents  each.  All  ministers  of  the 
Gospel  and  civil  officials  were  authorized  to  solemnize  marriage  and 
to  issue  marriage  certificates  for  $1.00.  All  such  certificates  to  be  sent 
to  the  Bureau.  Religious  organizations  were  empowered  to  dissolve 
marriages  of  freedmen.  Elaborate  rules  were  drawn  up  setting  forth 
the  duties  of  husbands  to  "former  wives"  and  the  rights  of  wives 
and  children,  etc. 

*  See  Census  of  1870  (unreliable)  ;  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no. 
70.  A  special  state  census  of  1867  put  the  number  of  blacks  at  71,665. 
Population  increased  from  immigration  during  1866.  See  Floridian 
during  1867;  also  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Florida,  v.  ii,  p.  301. 

• //.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  pp.  275-6;  N.  Y.  Times,  June 
13,  1866,  Gen.  Steedman's  Report. 


384  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

accurately  the  extent  of  this  aid.  General  Howard  reported 
in  March,  1867,  that  500  destitute  whites  and  1,000  blacks 
were  dependent  for  a  living  for  five  or  six  months  of  the 
year  upon  the  Bureau.  He  estimated  that  45,000  rations 
per  month  were  called  for.^  A  ration  was  estimated  to 
cost  twenty-five  cents. 

The  Federal  government  paid  for  the  supplies  through 
the  Bureau.  The  funds  came  either  in  direct  Federal  ap- 
propriation or  from  the  sale  and  rent  of  abandoned  and 
confiscated  property.  The  total  expenditure  by  the  Flor- 
ida Bureau  in  Florida  from  November  ist,  1865,  to  Novem- 
ber 1st,  1866,  was  $15,589.62.  Its  income  for  these  twelve 
months  was  $18,949.00.^  1866  was  its  busiest  year.  There- 
fore we  can  conclude  that  the  total  expenditure  of  this  insti- 
tution among  Florida's  70,000  negroes  and  few  hundred 
helpless  whites  was  not  large. 

It  rendered  good  service  in  filling  hungry  stomachs,  in 
caring  for  a  few  orphans,  sick  people  and  insane;  and  in 
ministering  unto  the  pest-stricken.  A  negro  orphanage 
was  maintained  at  Fernandina  in  the  confiscated  home  of 
General  Finegan.^  A  hospital  with  a  staff  of  several  physi- 
cians and  nurses  was  established  near  Jacksonville.*  Pest 
houses  were  kept  up  in  various  towns  and  villages  of  the 
state.  Small-pox  was  raging  in  localities  among  negroes 
during  1865-66.    The  Bureau  by  a  systematic  campaign  of 

'  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  i,  p.  2. 
2  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  6,  p.  47. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  47;  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  27,  p.  no.  The 
orphan  asylum  at  Fernandina  is  spoken  of  as  "  a  lovely  spectacle  of 
genuine  philanthropy." 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  p.  47.  At  Magnolia,  20  miles 
above  Jacksonville,  on  the  St.  Johns  river.  The  hospital  was  estab- 
lished in  March,  1866;  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  41st  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  142,  pp.  18,  24. 


THE  FREEDMEN'S  BUREAU  385 

vaccination  against  the  disease  rendered  a  good  service  to 
society. 

At  a  few  points  in  the  state  small  primary  schools  for 
negroes  had  been  established  before  the  Bureau  entered 
Florida.  In  Fernandina  and  Jacksonville  negro  schools 
were  opened  during  the  war.^  Florida  was  less  advanced  in 
educating  the  negro  than  most  other  Southern  states.  This 
lack  of  progress  did  not  disturb  the  Southern  white.  Even 
the  enlightened  planters  did  not  welcome  academic  ideas 
from  the  proselyting,  patronizing  newcomer  from  the  North 
or  the  politically-minded  negro  preacher. 

In  Tallahassee  the  Bureau  inspector  of  freedmen's 
schools  reported  on  January  ist,  1866,  that  he  had  found  five 
negro  schools  gathered  together  and  taught  by  negro 
preachers.  He  reported  also  a  school  of  "  interesting 
girls  "  at  the  same  place  taught  by  a  "  Mulatto  woman  of 
education  "  who  said  to  him,  "  I  intend  to  make  ladies  of 
these  girls  ".^  The  American  institution  of  learning  is  in 
truth  capable  of  a  great  deal. 

Small  negro  schools  were  at  the  same  time  in  operation 
in  Fernandina,  Jacksonville,  St.  Augustine,  Lake  City,  and 
Gainesville.  Some  white  women  of  Fernandina  conducted 
a  "  sewing  school  "  for  blacks  and  a  negro  orphan  asylum 
which  by  January,  1866,  had  fifty-five  inmates.^    Thus  it  is 

'  Moore,  Rebell.  Red.,  v.  6,  p.  61.  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Aug.  17,  1864;  A^. 
Y.  Times,  Jan.  23,  1864. 

•  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  p.  337.  J.  W.  Alvord  was  the 
inspector  of  schools.    His  report  is  dated  Jan.  i,  1866. 

•  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  p.  276.  Fernandina  had  two 
negro  schools,  330  pupils,  and  five  teachers ;  St.  Augustine,  two  schools, 
250  pupils,  and  four  teachers ;  Jacksonville,  three  schools,  530  pupils, 
and  four  teachers;  Lake  City,  one  school,  310  pupils,  and  two  teachers; 
Tallahassee,  one  school,  208  pupils,  and  two  teachers.  This  made  a 
total  of  10  schools,  1,918  pupils,  and  21  teachers,  reported  Dec.  31, 
1865. 


386  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

seen  that  educational  and  charitable  work  among  Florida's 
blacks  had  already  begun  before  the  Bureau  was  fairly  es- 
tablished. One  of  the  first  things  which  it  accomplished 
was  the  organization  over  the  state  of  numerous  schools 
for  blacks  supported  partly  by  local  contributions,  partly 
by  the  state,  partly  by  Northern  charity,^  and  partly  by 
Federal  funds. 

In  October,  1865,  General  Foster,  commanding  the  mili- 
tary department  of  Florida,  appointed  Chaplain  H.  H. 
Moore  (white),  of  the  34th  United  States  Colored  In- 
fantry, state  superintendent  of  education  for  Freedmen.^ 
Assistant-Commissioner  Osborn  immediately  directed  all 
sub-assistant  commissioners  of  the  Bureau  to  report  to 
Moore  as  soon  as  possible  the  number  of  negro  children 
between  five  and  fifteen  in  their  respective  districts;  the 
number  and  character  of  the  schools  already  established; 
the  school-house  accommodations;  the  means  for  boarding 
and  lodging  teachers;  the  disposition  of  the  whites  toward 
negro  schools;  the  ability  and  willingness  of  the  people, 
black  and  white,  to  pay  teachers,  etc. — in  fact  all  reason- 
able information  germane  to  the  question  of  wisely  estab- 
lishing negro  schools.' 

The  Bureau's  educational  efforts  produced  some  results. 
By  the  end  of  January,  1866,  21  black  schools  were  reported 
at  14  points  employing  33  teachers  and  enrolling  1,868 
pupils  of  all  ages.*     Six  months  later  38  schools  were  re- 

'  Philanthropic  work  among  the  negroes  in  the  South  Atlantic  states 
(the  Carolinas,  Georgia,  and  Florida)  was  carried  on  by  the  following 
organizations :  American  Missionary  Assn.,  Boston  Educational  Com- 
mission, Freedmen's  Relief  Assn.  of  N.  Y.,  American  Tract  Society 
of  Boston,  and  Educational  Societies  founded  in  Philadelphia,  Chi- 
cago, and  Cincinnati.    See  H.  Rpts.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  30,  pp.  20-22. 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  p.  85. 

•  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  p.  85,  Circular  no.  7. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  283-4.     The  distribution  was  as   follows :   St.  Augustine, 


THE  FREEDMEN'S  BUREAU  387 

ported  employing  51  teachers  and  enrolling  2,662  pupils. 
Twenty  of  these  38  schools  were  state  institutions.  Twenty- 
nine  of  the  51  teachers  were  sustained  by  the  New  York 
branch  of  the  Society  for  the  Protection  of  the  Freedmen.^ 
The  Bureau  directed  and  controlled  this  educational  work 
— state,  Federal,  and  private. 

The  state  legislature  on  January  nth,  1866,  provided  by 
law  for  a  negro  school  system  of  its  own.^  By  October, 
1866,  twenty-five  common  schools  for  blacks  had  been 
established  by  the  state.  L.  M.  Hobbs,  an  ex-chaplain  of 
the  3rd  Colored  Infantry  and  Federal  provost-marshal 
at  Tallahassee,  was  appointed  by  Governor  Walker  state 
superintendent  of  negro  schools.^  Hobbs's  successor — an- 
other ex-chaplain  of  the  Union  army — became  superin- 
tendent of  Bureau  schools;  and  in  this  way  was  the  direc- 
tion of  the  two  systems — Bureau  and  state — linked  to- 
gether.*   Gradually  the  Bureau  schools  were  absorbed  into 

two  schools,  four  teachers,  150  pupils;  Fernandina,  three  schools,  six 
teachers,  280  pupils;  Jacksonville,  three  schools,  six  teachers,  240 
pupils ;  Colony,  one  school,  one  teacher,  28  pupils ;  Lake  City,  one 
school,  two  teachers,  300  pupils;  Gainesville,  one  school,  two  teachers, 
280  pupils;  Palatka,  one  school,  one  teacher,  85  pupils;  Marianna, 
one  school,  one  teacher,  80  pupils ;  Pensacola,  one  school,  one  teacher, 
75  pupils;  Lieut.'  Cessna's  Plantation,  one  school,  one  teacher,  20 
pupils;  Belle  Air  (near  Tallahassee),  one  school,  one  teacher,  40 
pupils ;  Midway,  one  school,  one  teacher,  20  pupils ;  Plantation  near 
Tallahassee,  one  school,  one  teacher,  30  pupils;  Tallahassee,  three 
schools,  five  teachers,  240  pupils. 

» H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70. 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  14th  Assembly,  chap.  1475. 

^  N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  March  16,  1866,  Hobbs'  letter;  .V.  F.  World, 
April  21,  1866,  Tallahassee  letter;  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  30,  p. 
8,  testimony  of  Hobbs  before  the  Reconstruction  Commit;  ee  in  Wash- 
ington,  Feb.  28,   1866. 

*  E.  B.  Duncan,  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  p.  46. 


388  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

the  state  system,  although  the  Bureau  was  the  paramount 
authority  during  the  period  of  military  rule,  1866-68/ 

The  state  levied  a  poll  tax  of  $1  on  every  adult  male 
negro  for  the  support  of  negro  schools.  Few  paid  the  tax — 
some  failing  because  they  could  not  pay,  and  many  because 
they  would  not.  The  total  amount  of  taxes  assessed  by 
the  state  on  negroes  during  1866  was  only  $22,935.  $7,- 
828  of  this  amount  was  the  poll  tax  for  common  schools, 
and  only  a  fraction  of  it  was  ever  collected.  During  the 
year  1866  the  state  government  issued  warrants  to  the 
amount  of  $2,792.88  for  the  payment  of  teachers  in  negro 
schools.^  These  warrants  were  paid  out  of  general  reve- 
nue. The  fraction  of  the  negro  school  tax  actually  paid 
was  turned  in  by  planters  for  their  workmen. 

Experience  demonstrated  that  negroes  were  not  dis- 
posed to  have  their  names  recorded  on  the  tax  rolls,  even 
for  purposes  of  their  own  education.  Paying  taxes  was  a 
process  which  they  neither  understood  nor  appreciated. 
Many  had  no  money  to  pay  when  called  upon.  More  en- 
lightened people  do  not  readily  pay  taxes — particularly  poll 
taxes — for  that  which  they  think  they  will  obtain  without 
paying.  With  Florida  negroes  tax  paying  was  discour- 
aged because  "  restless  agitators  now  told  them,"  stated 
Comptroller  Beard,  in  1867,  "  that  the  state  is  without  such 
government  as  they  are  bound  to  respect,  that  it  is  an 
illegal  concern  having  no  legitimate  powers."  * 

^  In  February,  1870,  32  Bureau  schools  were  reported  employing  39 
teachers  and  enrolling  1,507  pupils;  also  20  Sunday-schools  with  55 
teachers  and  1,168  pupils,  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  41st  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  142,  p.  24. 
At  this  time  the  number  of  negro  pupils  enrolled  in  state  schools  was 
about  3,000.  See  An.  Cyclo.,  1870-71 ;  Herbert,  Why  the  Solid  South? 
p.  167. 

^  Rpt.  State  Comptroller  Beard,  Aug.  5,  1867. 

"  Rpt.  State  Compt.  Beard,  Aug.  5,  1867.  See  also  Floridian,  Aug. 
9,  June  14,  July  16,  1867. 


THE  FREEDMEN'S  BUREAU  389 

For  five  years  the  Bureau  continued  to  oversee  negro 
schools  and  to  act  as  the  agent  for  steadily  decreasing 
Northern  charity.  The  teachers  in  negro  schools  were 
both  blacks  and  whites/  The  latter  were  generally  social 
outcasts.  From  the  larger  plantations  came  applications 
for  teachers.^  Osborn  reported  early  in  1866  that  in  Flor- 
ida negro  schools  "  were  flourishing  ",  that  there  was  some 
opposition  by  whites  to  their  establishment,  and  that  the 
great  need  was  teachers.^  L.  M.  Hobbs,  superintendent  of 
negro  schools,  wrote  in  March,  1866: 

There  is  great  demand  for  schools  on  plantations,  not  only  by 
freedmen  but  by  former  masters.  They  say  that  it  is  as  much 
to  their  interest  as  to  the  freedmen's  that  the  freedmen  be 
educated;  that  as  free  laborers  they  will  do  better  by  being 
able  to  read  and  write  and  will  be  more  contented  if  they  can 
have  schools  on  their  plantations.  Many  planters  have  offered 
to  pay  one-half  the  expenses  of  schools  if  they  are  successful 
in  raising  cotton  this  year.* 

Thousands  of  ex-slaves  wished  "  book-learning "  and 
strove  for  a  little  while  to  acquire  it.  They  labored  with  an 
eagerness  and  hopefulness  and  helplessness,  usually,  not 
without  pathos.  The  Southern  whites  interpreted  the  ne- 
groes' efforts  as  but  a  passing  spasm  of  curiosity  founded 
upon  a  desire  to  ape  the  more  enlightened  whites  and  to  test 
freedom  somehow  by  piercing  the  mysteries  of  the  printed 

*  American  Freedman,  Oct.,  1866.  Article  on  Southern  Education. 
See  also  various  reports  of  Freedmen's  Bureau  in  Florida. 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  p.  284;  A^.  Y.  Evening  Post, 
March  16,  1866. 

»  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70. 

*  N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  March  16,  1866,  letter  from  Hobbs  to  Pres. 
Shaw  of  N.  Y.  Freedmen's  Relief  Assn.  Also  personal  conversation 
of  the  author  with  ex-Gov.  Bloxham  in  Tallahassee. 


390  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

page.  The  Southern  whites  did  not  take  the  matter  very 
seriously.^  The  more  ignorant  they  were  the  more  they  re- 
sented the  blacks'  mad  search  after  the  alphabet. 

Strangers  in  the  land — from  the  North — were  heavily 
impressed  with  what  they  saw.  Many  of  them  made  hasty, 
optimistic  and  thoroughly  asinine  or  dishonest  generaliza- 
tions and  prophecies  about  the  bright  cultural  outlook  for 
the  negro.  Such  optimism  continues  to  this  day.  The  black 
was  described  to  doting  enthusiasts  North  as  a  man  of  un- 
common parts — with  acquisitive  and  reasoning  faculties  far 
above  the  Southern  white,  and  with  an  enthusiasm  for 
learning,  probably  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  human 
race.  "  The  great  movement  is  among  the  children  of  the 
usual  school  age,"  declared  one  admirer. 

Their  parents,  if  at  all  intelligent,  encourage  them  to  study. 
Your  officers  [U.  S.]  add  their  influence,  and  it  is  a  fact  not 
always  true  of  children  that,  among  those  recently  from  bond- 
age, a  school-house,  however  rough  and  uncomfortable,  is  of 
all  places  the  most  attractive.  A  very  common  punishment 
for  misdemeanors  is  the  threat  of  being  kept  home  from  school. 
The  threat  is,  in  most  cases,  sufficient.^ 

A  Federal  treasury  agent  in  Florida  found  "  the  colored 
children  evincing  a  spirit  and  disposition  to  learn  "  that  he 
had  never  witnessed  "  even  in  the  white  schools  of  the 
North;  and  not  only  evincing  the  disposition,  but  actually 
learning.  That  is  something  that  has  impressed  me  most 
profoundly  everywhere  in  the  South."  ' 

An  interesting  and  for  several  years  favorable  aspect  of 

*  Radicals  testifying  before  the  Reconstruction  Committee  or  writing 
home  exaggerated  the  bitterness  of  the  Southern  white.  For  ins'ance. 
see  the  testimony  of  Ricks  and  Hobbs,  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  30. 

'  Ibid.,  pp.  22-23. 

*  //.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  30,  p.  2,  testimony  of  J.  W.  Ricks. 


THE  FREED  MEN'S  BUREAU 


391 


the  national  government's  influence  on  the  blacks  of  Flor- 
ida is  furnished  by  the  career  of  the  Freedmen's  Savings 
Bank.  When  the  negro  became  a  considerable  element  in 
the  Federal  army  during  the  Civil  War  the  safe-keeping  of 
the  pay  and  bounty  money  of  this  class  became  a  matter  of 
philanthropic  concern  to  Northern  negrophiles.  Why  ex- 
isting Caucasian  banks  could  not  minister  unto  the  negro 
it  is  difficult  to  understand.  At  any  rate  to  meet  the  sup- 
posed exigency  military  savings  banks  were  created  at 
Norfolk,  Va.,  and  Beaufort,  S.  C,  which  were  centers  of 
mobilization  at  that  time  for  negro  troops.^ 

The  close  of  the  war  and  the  consequent  emancipation 
of  the  negro  increased  and  made  more  actual  the  necessity 
of  some  reliable  agency  to  meet  the  black's  financial  and 
social  wants.  In  response  to  this  demand  Congress  incor- 
porated in  March,  1865,  the  Freedmen's  Savings  Bank  and 
Trust  Company,  a  sort  of  financial  supplement  of  the 
Freedmen's  Bureau.^ 

The  institution  was  designed  to  perform  for  a  particular 
class — a  desperately  poor  and  ignorant  class — the  import- 
ant function  of  a  savings  bank.  Its  purpose  was  declared 
to  be  "  to  receive  on  deposit  such  sums  of  money  as  may 
from  time  to  time  be  offered  therefor  by  or  on  behalf  of 
persons  heretofore  held  in  slavery  in  the  United  States, 
or  their  descendants,  and  to  invest  the  same  in  the  stocks, 
bonds  and  treasury  notes  or  other  securities  of  the  United 
States."  « 

Branches  of  the  bank  were  established  during  March, 
1866,  in  Jacksonville,  and  during  the  following  August  in 
Tallahassee.*     Deposits  from  $1   up  were  received.     At- 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  440,  pp.  1-2. 

*  Statutes  at  Large,  v.  13,  pp.  510-513,  March  3,  1865.  '  Sec.  5. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  43rd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  16,  p.  85.     W.  L.  Coan  was 
Bank  Manager  in  Jacksonville,  and  Wm.  Steward  in  Tallahassee. 


392  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

tractive  bank  books  were  issued  to  negro  depositors  and 
the  Bureau  agents  encouraged  the  blacks  to  put  their  sur- 
plus earnings  in  the  bank/  The  Florida  branches  were  soon 
doing  a  general  banking  business — making  loans  on  various 
sorts  of  notes,  on  cotton,  lumber  and  even  real  estate. 

Some  of  the  men  associated  in  the  local  management  of 
the  institution  in  Florida  were  unmitigated  scoundrels,^ 
but  this  fact  did  not  prevent  it  from  doing  a  useful  work 
in  the  state  among  the  negroes.  Colonel  Sprague  reported 
to  General  Howard  on  October  ist,  1867,  that  the  two 
Florida  branches  were  in  a  "  flourishing  condition " 
and  that  the  rental  of  buildings  occupied  by  both  branches 
was  "  paid  by  the  Bureau  in  compliance  with  orders  ".^  The 
bank  was  in  reality  a  part  of  the  Bureau's  system.  Two 
and  a  half  years  later,  1870,  the  Congressional  committee 
investigating  General  Howard  reported  that  the  influence  of 
the  bank  on  the  black  was  "  very  beneficial  ".* 

When  in  1874  the  Freedmen's  Bank  failed  the  Jackson- 
ville branch  had  $39,400.00  on  deposit  from  some  i  ,608  de- 
positors— mostly  negroes — and  the  Tallahassee  branch 
$30,610.35  from  766  depositors."*  These  poor  people  lost 
a  large  part  of  their  savings  and  no  doubt  had  their  pristine 
faith  in  banks  and  the  goodness  of  the  new  regime  badly 
shaken. 

^  Floridian,  Feb.  15  and  19,  1867.  See  reference  to  bank  in  Minutes 
of  Republican  Club  of  Jacksonville.  For  the  bank  elsewhere,  see 
Prof.  Fleming's  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction  in  Alabama  for  an  ad- 
mirable account  of  the  institution  there;  also,  his  Doc.  Hist,  for  the 
whole  South. 

.  '  One,  Stonelake,  was  chairman  of  the  bank's  "  Advertising  Com- 
mittee" in  Tallahassee,  Floridian,  Feb.  19,  1867.  For  charges  of  dis- 
graceful frauds  of  Stonelake  in  selling  painted  sticks  to  negroes,  see 
Wallace,  Carpet-hag  Rule,  p.  40. 

'  H.  Rpts.,  41st  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  121,  pp.  47-48. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  486. 

'  Sen.  Rpts.,  46th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  440,  pp.  22,  41. 


THE  FREED  MEN'S  BUREAU 


393 


But  memories  of  misfortune  do  not  linger  long  in  the 
Ethiopian's  head.  The  failure  hardly  produced  demoral- 
izing distrust  even  among  the  comparatively  few  who  were 
the  victims.  The  negro  as  a  freedman  was  expected  to  be- 
come master  of  his  own  wealth.  The  Freedmen's  Bank 
encouraged  the  ex-slave  to  put  his  earnings  in  a  safe  place 
presumably,  and  enabled  him  to  realize  an  interest  on  his 
money.  Practically,  therefore,  the  plan  tended  toward  in- 
culcating thrift,  and  though  the  plan  ended  in  disaster,  yet 
it  became  for  a  short  time  under  the  Bureau's  oversight  a 
potent  instrument  for  teaching  economic  values  to  the 
black. 

Another  attempt  to  protect  the  economic  interests  of  the 
negro — and  in  some  ways  the  most  important  function  of 
the  Bureau — was  the  direction  and  management  of  the 
written  contract  system  for  labor.  Thousands  of  such  con- 
tracts between  blacks  and  whites  were  entered  into  in  all 
parts  of  Florida  during  1865-68.  They  were  made  usually 
under  the  eyes  of  a  Federal  agent,  and  thus  very  profoundly 
did  the  Bureau  touch  the  active  agricultural  and  industrial 
life  of  the  commonwealth. 

What  was  the  character  of  these  contracts?  How  did 
the  system  work  out? 

The  avowed  policy  of  Osborn  (the  first  Bureau  chief  of 
the  state)  was  to  leave  the  amount  of  the  wage  to  the  law 
of  supply  and  demand,  after,  however,  fixing  carefully  a 
minimum  of  food  to  be  furnished  in  advance  by  the  white 
landlord.  This  minimum  was  four  pounds  of  bacon,  one 
peck  of  meal,  and  one  pint  of  syrup  or  the  equivalent  per 
week  per  laborer.  The  male  head  of  a  family  might  make 
a  contract  binding  his  wife  and  those  children  old  enough 
to  labor  but  legally  under  age.  The  contracts  stipulated  or 
implied  the  hours  of  work  to  be  performed  each  day,  the 
days  of  labor,  the  food  to  be  advanced,  and  the  wage  or 


394  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

share  of  the  crop  to  be  paid.  The  planter  usually  allowed 
the  laborer  one-third  of  the  crop  which  he  might  cultivate 
and  his  food  and  lodging  till  the  crop  was  made.  In  saw- 
mills and  in  turpentine  orchards  and  distilleries  the  stipu- 
lated return  was  in  cash  or  supplies.  A  Bureau  agent  gen- 
erally witnessed  the  making  of  these  contracts  and  for  this 
service  he  charged  a  small  fee  which  was  paid  by  the  land- 
lord.' 

On  September  21st,  1865,  Osborn  ordered  all  sub-assistant 
commissioners  of  the  Bureau  to  report  to  him  the  number 
of  freedmen  in  their  respective  districts;  approximately  the 
number  laboring  under  written  contracts ;  the  average  wage 
or  share  of  the  crop  received  by  the  laborer;  the  degree  of 
contentment  apparent;  the  attitude  of  white  employer 
toward  negro  employee;  and  the  disposition  of  the  negroes 
to  loaf,  congregate  in  towns,  and  steal.  Officials  were  di- 
rected very  positively  by  Osborn  to  discourage  the  blacks 
from  collecting  in  towns,  at  military  posts,  at  railway  sta- 
tions, or  in  isolated  communities.  "  It  should  be  constantly 
borne  in  mind,"  ran  the  order,  "  that  the  labor  of  the  freed- 
men is  most  profitable  to  himself  as  well  as  to  the  employer 
where  the  labor  can  be  made  to  yield  the  largest  returns, 
which,  as  a  general  rule,  is  on  plantations  or  in  the  lumber 
business."  ^ 

Bureau  officials  were  cautioned  against  giving  railway 
transportation  to  blacks,  and  were  to  bend  all  energies 
toward  inducing  them  to  make  written  contracts — docu- 
ments which  in  the  magnified  vision  of  the  blacks'  new  mas- 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  pp.  85-90,  283.  N.  Y.  Times, 
June  13,  1866.  Gen.  Steedman  states  that  in  "  Fernandina  District 
Maj.  Shearer  of  7th  Ohio  who  acts  without  pay  gets  $5.00  for  each 
contract."  Also  Rpts.  of  Gens.  Steedman  and  Fullerton,  Johnson 
Papers. 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  pp.  79-80. 


THE  FREEDMEN'S  BUREAU  39^ 

ters,  the  Bureau  agents,  became  personal  Magna  Chartas 
for  the  members  of  the  Hberated  race. 

Later  state  law  on  the  subject — so  howled-down  by  the 
Northern  Radicals — was  in  substantial  accord  with  the  Bu- 
reau's labor  system,  in  fact,  grew  out  of  it.  Florida  sta- 
tutes announced  that  written  contracts  must  be  made  when 
black  labored  for  white.  Would  the  state  or  the  Bureau 
see  that  the  contracts  were  keptf  The  state  government 
would  punish  for  the  breach  of  contract;  the  Bureau  prac- 
tically would  not  tolerate  such  action  if  the  offender  were 
a  negro. 

The  assistant-commissioner  reported  in  December,  1865, 
that  the  "freedmen  generally  decline  to  make  contracts  for 
the  ensuing  year  until  after  New  Year."  ^  This  condition 
of  affairs  was  due  to  the  strange  African  belief  prevalent 
over  the  entire  South  among  the  blacks  that  on  New  Year, 
1866,  a  general  division  of  property  would  be  made.  When 
the  expected  division  was  not  made  and  the  Florida  legis- 
lature enacted  its  stringent  "  Black  Code  ",  negroes  became 
less  restive  and  over  the  length  and  breadth  of  Florida 
written  contracts  were  entered  into  with  a  new  zest.^ 

The  system  excited  opposition  among  the  whites. 
"  There  is  some  dissatisfaction  with  the  Freedmen's  Bu- 
reau. There  is  a  large  class  of  lawless  men  in  this  state 
who  are  restive  under  the  restraints  of  military  rule  and 
feel  impatient  that  it  is  not  removed,"  reported  General 
Foster  in  March,  1866.'     "  The  prevailing  opinion  is  that 

^  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  277.  "  Where  the  freedmen  worked  well,"  stated  Osborn, 
"  wages  received  were  good  and  where  they  have  for  any  cause 
worked  badly,  wages  have  been  small ;  but  the  freedmen  usually  ac- 
cept the  result  as  a  natural  consequence  of  a  summer  of  idleness  and 
commence  this  year  with  a  determination  of  procuring  better  pay  for 
doing  more  work." 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  57,  p.  8. 


396 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


the  General  Grovernment  should  not  interfere  in  that  matter 
at  all;  that  it  should  be  left  entirely  to  the  people  of  the 
State,"  testified  a  Federal  agent  from  Florida  before  the 
Reconstruction  Committee, 

They  [Southerners]  say  they  understand  the  negro  better  than 
we  [Northerners]  do;  that  they  can  manage  him  better;  and 
that  the  government  has  not  any  right  whatever  to  interfere 
in  the  matter.  They  evidently  desire  one  of  two  things  in  the 
matter ;  to  so  control  the  negro  that  he  will  be  in  a  condition 
of  semi-slavery  or  peonage  or  else  to  make  the  free-labor  sys- 
tem an  utter  failure  in  order  to  show  that  their  own  peculiar 
notions  about  the  subject  are  correct.^ 

By  the  advent  of  summer  (1866)  the  reports  of  various 
Bureau  agents  on  contracts  were  reassuring.  "The  negroes 
are  working  diligently,"  wrote  Colonel  Sprague  in  July. 
Sprague  had  then  just  completed  an  extended  tour  of  in- 
spection among  the  plantations,  his  journey  including  the 
towns  of  Jacksonville,  Starke,  Waldo,  Gainesville,  Bron- 
son,  and  Cedar  Keys.^  "  The  contract  system  is  good," 
he  continued.  "  Justice  is  being  done  the  freedmen  as 
laborers."  The  agent  from  Lake  City  reported :  "Many 
planters  assure  me  that  the  contract  system  is  better  than 
the  slave  system."  Later  he  wrote:  "The  planters  want 
peace."  *  General  Steedman  inspected  the  Bureau's  work 
in  Florida  and  stated  in  June,  1866:  "The  freedmen  are 
at  work  and  are  liberally  compensated."  * 

The  written  contract  labor  system  although  cumbersome 
began  favorably,  °  and  might  have  worked  out  well  to  the 

»  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  30,  p.  9. 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  57,  pp.  87-88. 

•  Ibid.,  p.  10,  April  28,  1866.  ♦  A'^.  Y.  Times,  June  13,  1866. 

'  See  references  to  favorable  conditions  in  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C.» 
1st  S.,  no.  70,  pp.  27s,  283-4;  40th  C,  i:nd  S..  no.  57,  p.  11.  Report 
of  Gen.  Steedman,  N.  Y.  Times,  June  13,  1866;  lohnson  Papers,  1866. 


THE  FREED  MEN'S  BUREAU 


397 


end  if  the  negro  and  the  Bureau  agent  had  not  attempted 
to  dictate  to  the  white  landlord/  The  high  price  of  cotton 
in  1865  induced  planters  to  offer  good  wages,^  which  fact 
encouraged  the  more  greedy  laborers  backed  by  Bureau 
officials  to  try  for  even  better  wages.  The  average  wage  for 
a  first-class  hand  was  a  share  in  the  crop — equivalent  to 
about  $150  per  annum,  in  addition  to  food  and  shelter.  In 
the  sawmills  and  turpentine  orchards  the  wage  was  $25  to 
$30  per  month  and  no  food  advanced.' 

There  were  not  enough  laborers  in  Florida  to  perform 
adequately  the  work  of  the  state.*  Three  out  of  four  plant- 
ers wanted  more  workmen.  One  planter  near  Tallahassee 
offered  to  pay  the  fines  of  all  negroes  confined  in  the  county 
jail  if  he  might  work  them  on  his  estate  at  good  wages. 
Some  prisoners  were  released  to  him  under  these  condi- 
tions.' The  reports  of  the  Bureau,  the  news  in  local  Con- 
servative journals,  the  talk  of  politicians,  the  letters  North 
from  Florida — all  indicate  the  prevalence — possible  super- 
abundance— of  opportunities  for  remunerative  labor,  and 
this  conclusion  casts  discredit  upon  the  statement  of  Gen- 
eral Howard,  head  of  the  Bureau,  who  in  March,  1866,  de- 
clared that  in  Florida  more  than  $io,cxdo  per  month  was 
needed  for  the  distribution  of  free  food  alone.® 

'  For  an  instance  of  attempted  dictation  with  the  Bureau's  help,  see 
H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  281-2,  232.  See  also  criti- 
cism of  Bureau  in  Wallace,  Carpet-bag  Rule,  pp.  40-41,  and  Rerick, 
Memoirs  of  Florida,  v.  i,  p.  319. 

'  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  27,  p.  48. 

•  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  p.  278. 

*  Floridian,  Jan.  11,  Feb.  i,  Feb.  19,  1867. 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  pp.  278-9. 

'  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  i.  The  South  was  less  pros- 
perous in  March,  1867,  than  in  March,  1866,  due  partly  to  a  short 
cotton  crop.  Howard  called  for  a  to'al  appropriation  by  Congress  of 
$1,508,750,  "to  meet  the  extreme  want  occasioned  by  the  failure  of  the 
crop."    See  also  Gamage  to  Johnson,  Oct.  30,  1865,  Johnson  Papers. 


398  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Colonel  Flint,  Federal  commander  at  Tallahassee,  de- 
clared that  frequent  well-grounded  complaints  against  the 
blacks  had  reached  him,  charging  them  with  deliberate  vio- 
lation of  contracts,  with  idleness,  vagrancy,  theft,  and 
sometimes  "  violence  upon  the  persons  of  whites  ".  Exor- 
bitant wages  were  demanded  by  them,  "  and,"  Flint  con- 
tinued, "  insolence  and  refusal  to  do  what  they  agree  to  do 
follow.  Combinations  exist  among  the  blacks  to  force  the 
payment  of  high  wages.  They  exult  in  the  change  which 
has  taken  place  in  conditions — now  say  they  are  the  mas- 
ters." ^ 

Labor  contracts  constituted  only  one  of  the  many  matters 
which  became  the  source  of  troublesome  differences  among 
blacks  and  whites.  "  Both  classes  are  far  from  being  ac- 
customed to  their  new  relative  positions,"  stated  Bureau 
Agent  Mahoney  in  Lake  City  in  July,  1866.  Mahoney 
afterwards  became  an  active  Republican  politician.  "  The 
whites  are  very  apt  still  to  expect  and  exact  the  deference 
and  respectful  submission  formerly  observed  toward  them 
by  the  blaclfs,"  he  said, 

while  the  latter,  imbued  with  very  extraordinary  ideas  about 
their  freedom,  consider  themselves  fully  on  a  level  with  their 
former  masters,  and  seldom  fail  to  show  that  such  is  their 
opinion.  Hence  many  little  collisions  of  almost  hourly  occur- 
rence, which  though  trifling  in  their  nature  at  present,  may, 
by  repetition,  become  a  source  of  standing  disagreement  be- 
tween the  two  races.  .  .  .  On  the  other  hand,  the  small  town 
politicians  of  1861  are  politicians  still,  and  though  less  loud 
now  than  then,  still  love  to  speak  of  the  down-trodden  South 
and  her  wrongs,  which  sentiments  find  a  ready  echo  in  the 
hearts  of  the  younger  men  of  the  country.^ 

»  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  57,  p.  77. 
»  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  pp.  82-83. 


THE  FREED  MEN'S  BUREAU  399 

Another  agent  stated  that  he  would  feel  no  security  in 
Florida  if  the  military  were  withdrawn.  "  I  would  have 
no  fear  of  the  intelligent  planters,"  he  said, 

but  there  are  the  bar-room  loafers,  previously  slave-drivers 
and  overseers,  and  who  are  called  "  piney  woods  men  " — 
men  who,  as  the  old  settlers  have  said  to  me,  have  escaped 
justice  in  other  states  and  have  settled  here.  Then  there  is  a 
class  of  boys  of  nineteen  or  twenty  years  of  age,  who  would 
put  a  bowie  knife  or  bullet  through  a  Northern  man  as  they 
would  through  a  mad  dog.^ 

The  larger  planters,  belonging  mainly  to  the  class  that 
ruled  the  South  before  the  war,  were  somehow  more 
amicably  disposed  toward  the  Bureau  and  the  Federal  mili- 
tary than  were  the  majority  of  the  native  Southern  whites. 
The  vision  of  the  aristocracy  was  a  broader  one  than  that 
of  the  poor  white.  The  disastrous  outcome  of  the  war 
had  discredited  this  upper  class.  It  received  the  hardest 
treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  North,  yet  its  influence  was 
the  most  powerful  single  factor  in  the  South  for  peace 
and  harmony.  Its  control  over  society  was  less  felt  than 
in  the  olden  times,  but  in  1865-66  it  exercised  in  Florida 
certainly  a  restraining  influence.  A  new  and  lower  stratum 
of  the  Democracy  had  come  to  the  surface  in  the  South — 
a  stratum  less  rich,  less  fine,  narrower,  more  apt  at  conflict 
than  at  compromise.  The  President  of  the  United  States 
was  a  fair  example. 

"  There  have  been  cases  of  ill-treatment  and  dishonest 
dealing  on  the  part  of  planters  with  freedmen,"  stated  Os- 
born,  "  while  we  also  find  noble  treatment  on  the  part  of 
others.  For  instance.  Colonel  R.  H.  Gamble  and  Colonel  J. 
J.  Williams  each  employed  125  hands  last  year,  and  Colonel 
Gamble  has  paid  upwards  of  $12,000  for  their  labor  and  is 

»  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  30,  p.  8.    Testimony  L.  M.  Hobbs. 


,400  •       RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

still  indebted  to  them,  while  Colonel  Williams  aside  from 
what  he  has  paid  now  holds  $10,000  in  cash  subject  to  the 
orders  of  his  laborers."  ^ 

The  aristocratic  ex-Confederate,  who  had  fallen  from 
comfortable  affluence  to  poverty,  readily  entered  into  fair 
written  contracts  with  his  negro  laborers,  kept  his  end  of 
the  bargain,  and  showed  a  spirit  of  kindly  conciliation  in 
co-operating  with  the  Freedmen's  Bureau.  But  "the  people 
at  large,"  stated  Florida's  Bureau  head,  "  show  a  spirit  of 
dislike  or  hatred  for  the  freedmen  that  is  hard  to  account 
for.  The  feeling  among  the  little  planters,  lawyers,  and 
members  of  the  present  legislature,  the  croakers,  and  the 
other  small  fry  is  contemptible."  ^ 

The  assistant  commissioner  (Osborn)  professed  that  he 
would  disabuse  the  minds  of  the  blacks  of  erroneous  ideas 
in  regard  to  the  new  relations  of  white  men  and  black  men ; 
that  he  would  impress  upon  them  that  the  only  possible 
means  of  obtaining  a  livelihood  was  by  honest  and  con- 
tinuous industry.  "  The  usual  remedy  for  vagrancy, 
breaking  contracts,  and  other  crimes  will  be  resorted  to," 
he  announced  in  general  orders, 

the  freedmen  and  other  persons  of  African  descent  having  the 
same  rights  and  privileges  before  military  and  civil  courts  that 
the  white  citizens  have.    .    .    .    Every  person  should  labor  in 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  p.  280.  Both  Gamble  and 
Williams  were  aristocratic  Southern  planters  who  had  supported  the 
Confederacy. 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  p.  275.  There  is  testimony  to 
the  contrary.  A  man  from  Florida  was  asked  by  the  Reconstruction 
Committee  "what  class  of  white  people  in  that  State  [Florida]  in 
your  judgment  are  the  most  inimical  to  the  blacks?"  He  replied: 
"  The  wealthiest  class — those  whom  we  formerly  termed  '  the  upper 
grade' — the  upper  crust.  The  poorer  class  of  whites  are  not  so  un- 
favorable to  the  black  man  as  those  formerly  known  as  the  wealthier 
class."    H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  30,  p.  2. 


THE  FREEDMEN'S  BUREAU 


401 


some  capacity  to  earn  his  bread  and  support  his  family.  .  .  . 
I  also  believe  that  the  broad  principles  of  demand  and  supply 
should,  in  every  community,  govern  the  price  of  labor,  or  in 
other  words,  that  labor  is  a  commodity  in  the  market  and  the 
possessor  of  it  is  entitled  to  the  highest  market  value,  and 
that  any  restriction  on  the  price  of  labor  beyond  this  has  a 
tendency  to  injure  the  best  interests  of  employer  and  employee 
alike.  I  have,  too,  everywhere  where  the  influence  of  the 
Bureau  was  brought  to  bear  directly  upon  the  freedmen,  en- 
deavored to  treat  them  as  men  endowed  with  common  sense. 
...  I  have  endeavored  to  stand  in  the  gap  made  by  a  life- 
time's education  of  one  party  upon  the  prejudice  engendered 
by  a  slave-holding  community  and  the  ignorance  naturally  re- 
sulting from  the  condition  of  slaves  in  the  other  party.  The 
freed-people  of  Florida  need  no  sympathy  above  other  people, 
but  they  require  justice  at  the  hands  of  the  white  people  and 
of  the  government.^ 

Did  the  blacks  obtain  this  justice? 

When  Assistant-Commissioner  Osborn  made  the  fore- 
going declaration  of  worthy  principles  and  fair  play  he 
himself  was  playing  an  active  part  in  organizing  Lincoln 
Brotherhoods  (secret  political  societies)  among  the  blacks 
and  in  teaching  them  loyalty  to  the  Republican  party.^ 
Why?  Osborn  afterwards  reached  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate by  negro  votes.  For  obvious  and  historical  reasons  his 
political  activity  was  very  positively  objected  to  by  most 
native  whites.  His  official  position  as  local  chief  of  the 
Bureau  accentuated  their  objections.     If   the  Republican 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70,  pp.  277-8. 

*  Wallace,  Carpetbag  Rule,  p.  42.  See  Also  H.  Rpts.,  41st  C,  2nd  S., 
no.  121,  pp.  47-8,  for  reference  to  political  aspect  of  Bureau's  activity. 
Col.  Sprague  stated  that  he  had  registered  15,441  blacks  in  Florida  to 
11,151  whites,  and  that  he  had  "taken  measures  for  their  [black's] 
quiet  instruction  through  the  medium  of  sub-assistants  in  their  rights 
and  duties  under  the  Reconstruction  Acts." 


402  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

party  had  been  the  purest  and  most  patriotic  organization 
in  history,  still  the  Southerner  then  would  have  been  sus- 
picious of  it.  Would  the  negro  obtain  justice  from  his 
Southern  white  neighbor  or  the  Bureau  rise  in  the  esti- 
mate of  the  Southern  white  under  these  circumstances? 

The  Bureau  in  Florida  began  well.  "  You  will  fail  to 
find  in  Florida  the  abuses  in  the  Bureau  which  exist  in  Vir- 
ginia, North  Carolina,  and  South  Carolina,"  stated  Benja- 
min Truman  in  May,  1866.  "  There  are  some  indiscreet 
men  connected  with  the  Bureau  but  no  downright  swindlers, 
I  think."  ^  It  soon  found  itself  in  antagonism  to  the 
native  white  population.  This  was  due  in  part  to  preju- 
dices and  class  conflict  beyond  the  control  of  government 
and  in  larger  part  to  the  lack  of  judgment  and  lack  of  hon- 
esty among  Bureau  officials. 

The  sentimental  attitude  of  these  men  toward  the  black 
— due  perhaps  to  a  genuine  but  unfortunate  optimism — ex- 
asperated the  Southern  whites  and  did  not  teach  the  negro 
wisdom.  Colonel  Sprague,  in  February,  1867,  then  chief 
of  the  Bureau  in  Florida,  called  the  attention  of  General 
Howard  to  the  manner  in  which  Emancipation  Day  had 
been  kept  by  the  freedmen.  "  In  all  the  principal  towns  of 
the  State  they  assembled  in  large  bodies.  Processions 
paraded  the  streets  bearing  United  States  banners.  Meet- 
ings were  held  and  addressed  by  agents  of  the  Bureau,  and 
the  day  ended  in  dances  and  suppers."  This  celebration  so 
impressed  the  assistant  commissioner  that  he  declared  it 
to  be  "  one  of  the  strongest  evidences  of  the  freedmen's 
appreciation  of  his  position  irrespective  of  labor."  ^  Par- 
ading and  feasting  were  construed  as  evidences  of  social 
progress  and  were  encouraged  by  the  Bureau  agent.     The 

»  N.  Y.  Times,  June  8,  1866. 

»  Rpt.  of  Sprague,  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  20,  1867. 


THE  FREEDMEN'S  BUREAU 


403 


law-abiding  Southern  whites  feared  the  disorder  which  ac- 
companied such  demonstrations/ 

Colonel  Sprague  was  a  good  military  officer  and  a  man 
evidently  fair  in  his  intentions.  Some  of  his  subordinates 
were  neither.  Colonel  Flint  of  the  Federal  garrison  at 
Tallahassee  realized  the  situation  when  he  wrote :  "  A 
sound  discretion  in  selecting  officers,  both  civil  and  military, 
to  fill  various  offices  would  materially  aid  in  bringing  about 
a  more  harmonious  and  prosperous  condition  of  affairs. 
Unfortunately  the  important  and  delicate  duties  have  some- 
times devolved  upon  persons  of  weak  minds,  contracted 
views,  and  strong  prejudices."  ^ 

Flint  could  have  included  in  his  indictment  some  refer- 
ence to  official  stealing.  One  function  of  the  Bureau  was 
to  furnish  rations  to  the  destitute — bacon,  meal,  syrup,  peas, 
flour,  potatoes,  rice,  etc.  These  supplies  were  shipped  to 
various  local  agents  to  be  distributed  by  them  as  occasion 
arose.  This  offered  an  opportunity  for  graft  and  stealing, 
and  the  opportunity  was  utilized.  Some  agents  stocked 
little  stores  (shops)  with  rations  and  sold  them  for  their 
personal  benefit.  Others  engaged  in  cotton  planting  and 
paid  the  black  laborers  with  Bureau  rations.^  On  the  east 
coast,  south  of  St.  Augustine,  an  attempt  was  made  to  es- 
tablish a  negro  colony  under  white  leadership.  The  leader 
operated  a  sawmill.  The  laborers  were  paid  with  Bureau 
rations.*  In  Central  and  West  Florida,  W.  J.  Purman,  M. 
L.  Stearns  and  several  other  local  Bureau  agents  were  ac- 
cused of  devoting  to  their  own  use  Bureau  rations." 

*  See,  for  instance,  the  testimony  of  Judge  Sam  J.  Douglas  before 
Cong.  Committee,  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  294. 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  57,  "pp.  77-78. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  41st  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  121,  pp.  446-456;  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp 
40-41. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  41st  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  121,  pp.  449,  486. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  40-41. 


404 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


A  negro  active  as  a  Republican  politician  in  Florida  dur- 
ing Reconstruction  has  written  thus : 

Instead  of  a  blessing  it  [the  Bureau]  proved  the  worst  curse 
of  the  race.  The  Agents  of  the  Bureau  were  stationed  in  all 
the  cities  and  principal  towns  of  the  State.  They  overruled 
the  local  authorities  with  the  arbitrary  force  of  military  power. 
.  .  .  The  National  Government  sent  provisions  to  the  state  to 
be  distributed  to  such  of  the  freedmen  as  were  struggling 
without  means  of  subsistence  to  make  a  crop.  This  meat  and 
flour  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  these  agents  for  distribution, 
who  appropriated  it  at  their  discretion  and  frequently  more 
largely  for  their  own  benefit,  than  that  of  their  wards.  The 
commissioner  of  the  Bureau  for  this  State  in  company  with  a 
retired  army  officer  carried  on  a  large  plantation  on  the  Apa- 
lachicola  until  General  Steedman  was  appointed  to  examine 
and  report  upon  the  condition  of  the  Bureau's  affairs,  when  in 
anticipation  of  his  visit  to  the  state  his  interest  was  suddenly 
transferred  to  his  partner,  who  after  gathering  and  disposing 
of  the  cotton  crop  and  all  the  available  stock  on  the  place 
gathered  himself  up  and  left  without  paying  his  rent."  ^ 

A  gentleman  of  Florida,  a  Southerner,  who  was  an  active 
business  man  during  the  Reconstruction  period,  judging 
the  period  in  retrospect  summed-up  his  views  of  the  Bureau 
thus : 

The  freedmen  were  in  a  destitute  condition  after  the  war,  and 
to  better  their  condition  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  was  estab- 
lished to  extend  all  kinds  of  aid  to  the  negro.  It  probably  did 
more  harm  than  good,  demoralizing  the  blacks  and  putting  an 
incentive  on  laziness,  besides  putting  a  powerful  lever  in  the 
hands  of  unscrupulous  agents  for  the  perpetration  of  fraud 
and  the  organization  of  the  blacks  into  political  factions  for 
their  leader's  support.  Too  much  freedom  was  given  the 
Bureau  agents  in  handling  the  funds.     There  was  one  agent 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  41. 


THE  FREEDMEN'S  BUREAU 


405 


who  came  to  Pensacola  to  establish  a  school  for  blacks.  He 
was  an  honest  man,  I  think.  I  had  some  dealings  with  him 
in  regard  to  the  land,  and  I  noticed  what  broad  lee-way  was 
given.  He  practically  consulted  no  one  regarding  his  expen- 
ditures— just  sent  in  his  bills  to  department  headquarters.^ 

The  state  government  and  the  Bureau  were  in  conflict 
before  the  end  of  the  first  sixty  days  of  the  reorganized 
government's  existence.  Colonel  Osborn  declared  that  he 
wished  the  supremacy  of  the  civil  government  recognized, 
yet  on  February  26th,  1866,  he  issued  an  order  forbidding 
the  use  of  whipping  post  and  pillory.^  The  state  admin- 
istration was  warned  that  the  application  of  certain  statutes 
in  the  Black  Code  would  not  be  tolerated  by  the  Bureau. 
The  tribunals  of  that  institution  aggressively  opposed  what 
they  interpreted  as  abuse  of  the  negro  by  civilians  and  local 
officials.  They  insisted  upon  no  difference  in  treatment, 
before  the  law,  of  blacks  and  whites.  Negroes  formed  the 
habit  of  running  to  the  Bureau  agents  with  complaint,  and 
in  some  localities  the  whites  were  sharply  called  to  account, 
lectured  on  justice  and  honesty,  fined,  and  incarcerated.* 
The  state  assistant  commissioner  ordered  that  Bureau  offi- 
cials apprehend  all  landlords  who  should  unjustly  turn 
blacks  out  of  homes  occupied  by  them.* 

The  state  legislature  in  January,  1866,  as  one  of  its  first 
acts,  petitioned  the  President  of  the  United  States  to 
transfer  the  affairs  of  the  Bureau  entirely  to  the  Federal 
military  in  garrison.  °     The  legislature  claimed   that  the 

*  Conversation  with  Mr.  Edward  Anderson,  of  Pensacola. 

*  Fla.  Union,  Feb.  3,  1866.  On  Nov.  15,  1865,  Circular  no.  9  had 
stated,  "stripes  or  other  corporal  punishment  will  not  be  adminis- 
tered to  any  person  over  15  years  of  age  except  by  authority  of  a 
court  of  law."    H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  70,  pp.  86-87. 

*  //.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  232,  282,  285. 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  70,  p.  88,  Cir.  no.  10,  Dec.  31,  1865. 

*  Walker  to  Johnson,  June  13,  1866,  Johnson  Papers. 


4o6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Bureau's  affairs  had  been  conducted  with  neither  good 
judgment  nor  economy,  and  that  the  belief  had  been  spread 
among  the  blacks  by  its  agents  that  the  land  of  the  former 
masters  would  be  divided  among  the  one-time  slaves.^  This 
was  a  serious  indictment,  but  was  not  taken  seriously  by 
the  Federal  government. 

In  truth,  the  institution  condemned  by  the  state  would 
have  had  to  be  a  very  perfect  and  soft-mannered  institution 
to  have  avoided  offending  the  Southern  whites,  particularly 
those  directly  interested  in  the  Conservative  government, 
state  and  local.  The  Bureau  offered  a  tribunal  for  the  black 
above  and  outside  of  the  state  courts.^  Its  personnel  was 
largely  of  newcomers  from  the  North.  Its  authority  rested 
upon  Federal  bayonets.  Yet  it  was  not  the  military  au- 
thority back  of  the  Bureau  or  the  patent  fact  that  most  of 
its  officials  were  "  Yankees  "  and  "  scalawags  "  that  con- 
stituted fundamentally  the  casus  belli  between  it  and  the 
state  government.  The  legislature  had  expressly  petitioned 
that  the  "  military  "  be  given  control.  It  was  a  "  Yankee 
chaplain  "  who  framed  the  negro  school  law — part  of  the 
Black  Code — for  the  first  Conservative  assembly.*  The 
first  superintendent  of  negro  education  for  the  state  was  a 
"  Yankee  "  ex-chaplain,  the  appointee  of  Governor  Walker, 
a  Conservative  ex-Confederate.  So  was  the  second  super- 
intendent. Many  of  the  teachers  in  the  state  schools  for 
blacks  were  from  the  North.  A  few  highly-respected  citi- 
zens of  Florida  in  1866  were  lately  from  the  North — some 
having  served  in  the  Union  army  and  supported  the  Repub- 
lican party.  Blind  Southern  prejudice  was  hardly  the  prime 
cause  for  the  Bureau's  unpopularity. 

^  Laws  of  Florida,  14th  Assembly,  Resolution  2,  Jan.  11,  1866. 
'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  57. 

»  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  30,  p.  8;  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S., 
no.  70;  N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  March  16,  1866. 


THE  FREED  MEN'S  BUREAU 


407 


In  final  analysis,  that  which  constituted  the  basis  of  ob- 
jection by  Conservative  Floridians  to  the  Freedmen's  Bu- 
reau was  its  existence  in  the  state  as  a  quasi-civil  institution 
not  amenable  to  the  government  of  the  state;  showing  posi- 
tively political  tendencies  hostile  to  the  Conservative  party 
which  strenuously  sought  then  to  govern  the  state ;  exhibit- 
ing a  disposition  to  forbid  and  prevent  the  operation  of 
certain  laws;  rudely  interfering,  here  and  there,  in  the  eco- 
nomic relations  of  white  employer  and  black  employee ;  ^ 
and  by  the  teachings  of  its  agents  bringing  the  local  gov- 
ernment into  disrepute  among  the  blacks  as  well  as  menac- 
ing the  future  existence  of  what  Conservative  whites  were 
prone  to  consider  necessary  social  laws. 

"  The  Freedmen's  Bureau,"  stated  in  1866  the  superin- 
tendent of  negro  schools,  "  operated  very  much  like  the 
father's  rod  over  the  door  in  keeping  the  boys  straight. 
The  boys  behave  themselves  because  they  know  the  rod  is 
there  rather  than  because  they,  have  felt  it  much,  and  so 
with  the  Bureau.  The  people  will  treat  the  negro  well  and 
give  him  a  fair  chance  when  they  know  they  have  to  do  it."  ^ 

The  foregoing  characteristics,  evident  before  the  end  of 
1866,  made  the  Bureau  veritably  obnoxious  to  those  who 
sought  to  restore  the  authority  and  dignity  of  the  state  gov- 
ernment and  the  full  supremacy  of  a  respected  civil  and 
criminal  law — to  say  nothing  of  the  unwritten  law. 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no  70,  p.  283.     See  communication 
from  Bureau  Agent  Hamilton  at  Marianna. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  30,  p.  11. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
The  Problem  of  Conservative  Rule 

The  convention  which  met  during  the  autumn  of  1865 
had  for  its  task  the  adjustment  of  the  commonwealth's 
constitution  to  the  political  change  which  came  with  the 
restoration  of  Federal  authority.  The  legislature  which 
on  December  i8th  assembled  in  Tallahassee  at  the  call  of 
this  convention  attempted  by  the  enactment  of  law  to 
adjust  actual  government  to  the  revised  fundamental  law 
and  the  immediate  needs  of  society. 

The  most  disturbing  factor  in  the  situation  was  not 
change  in  the  organs  of  government,  nor  the  necessity  of 
making  civil  law  subserve  harmoniously  the  ends  of  mili- 
tary orders.  That  which  disturbed  law-makers  South  and 
philanthropists  North  was  the  unsettled  civil  and  political 
status  of  the  Southern  negro.  The  blacks  then  composed 
about  one-half  of  Florida's  population.  In  attempting  to 
adjust  this  new  question  of  negro  citizenship,  the  legis- 
lature enacted  laws  of  a  peculiar  character.  Florida's 
course  was  practically  the  same  as  that  of  other  Southern 
states.  Because  these  laws — generally  known  as  Black 
Codes — furnished  the  Radical  in  the  North  much  political 
capital,  an  examination  of  their  spirit  and  letter  should  oc- 
cupy an  important  place  in  the  history  of  Conservative  rule 
(1865-7).  Their  enactment  was  considered  by  the  North 
the  most  significant  development  South  during  the  first 
year  of  peace.  The  spirit  of  the  laws  furnishes  an  insight 
into  the  spirit  of  the  society  that  was  to  undergo  recon- 
struction. 
4o3 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE  409 

The  immediate  problem  of  conservative  rule  was  to  make 
peace  and  order  possible  under  normal  civil  government. 
The  larger  problem  v^as  to  meet  this  need  of  the  hour  with- 
out clashing  with  the  military,  without  giving  free  rein  to 
narrow  local  Southern  prejudice,  without  encouraging 
meddlesome  political  reformers  North,  and  at  the  same 
time  without  unduly  offending  the  saner  folk  in  the  victor- 
ious section. 

The  assembling  of  the  legislature  in  December,  1865, 
marked  the  end  of  Governor  Marvin's  task  as  a  reorganizer 
under  commission  from  the  President.  His  work  had 
been  proficiently  done.  The  state  government  had  been 
reconstructed  under  his  direction.  It  was  not  until  the  i8th 
of  January,  1866,  however,  that  the  President  formally 
ordered  him  to  relinquish  to  Governor-elect  Walker  and 
the  legislature  the  direction  of  the  new  government. 

Marvin's  parting  injunction  to  the  assembled  legislators 
contained  the  recommendation  that  laws  be  passed  binding 
negroes  to  contracts  made  by  them  and  providing  for  their 
arrest  and  forced  labor  on  state  farms  or  in  state  work- 
shops if  they  broke  their  contracts.^  Marvin  was  origi- 
nally a  Northern  man  and  a  stout  defender  of  the  Union 
in  Florida  during  the  war.  He  advised  measures  which 
when  adopted  later  by  ex-Confederates  were  considered  at 
the  North  as  deliberate  attempts  by  the  disloyal  Southerner 
to  thwart  the  results  of  the  war  and  the  objects  of  a  pa- 
triotic national  government. 

The  opening  address  of  Walker,  the  newly-elected  gov- 
ernor, was  mild.  He  fully  acknowledged  the  obvious  results 
of  the  war.    "The  logic  of  events  had  proven  that  secession 

*  Marvin's  Address,  Dec.  20,  1865.  Report  of  Committee  on  Recon- 
struction, //.  Rpts.,  39lh  C,  1st  S.,  no.  30,  pt.  4,  p.  13.  He  also  said  that 
poor  children  without  parents  "  should  be  apprenticed  until  they  are 
21  years  of  age." 


4IO  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

was  wrong,"  he  said — and  then  he  passed  from  the  settled 
issues  to  the  still  unsettled  problem — the  negro. 

"  They  are  free,"  he  said,  "  but  they  are  no  longer  our 
contented  and  happy  slaves  with  an  abundant  supply  of 
clothing  for  themselves  and  family  and  the  intelligence  of 
a  superior  race  to  look  ahead  and  make  necessary  arrange- 
ments for  their  comfort.  They  are  now  a  discontented 
and  unhappy  people,  roving  about  in  gangs."  He  ventured 
to  touch  the  haunting  question  of  black  enfranchisement. 
"  Each  of  us  knows  that  we  could  never  give  an  honest  or 
conscientious  assent  to  negro  suffrage,"  he  said.  "  There 
is  not  one  of  us  who  would  not  feel  that  he  were  doing 
wrong  and  bartering  his  self-respect  and  his  conscience. 
...  It  is  better,  a  thousand  times  better,  that  we  should 
remain  out  of  the  Union."  ^  At  this  date  the  Southern 
Conservative  realized  the  ultimate  goal  sought  by  the 
Northern  Radical.  That  same  unalterable  quantity,  "  the 
logic  of  events  "  which  Governor  Walker  had  declared  to 
be  the  only  reliable  test  for  political  truth,  was  finally  to 
force  Florida  not  only  to  extend  the  suffrage  to  the  negro 
but  also  to  remain  for  more  than  two  years  "  out  of  the 
Union  ". 

Walker's  attitude  on  negro  suffrage  was  not  that  of  an 
irreconcilable.  Governor  Marvin  had  stated  in  his  opening 
address  to  the  constitutional  convention :  "  It  does  not  ap- 
pear to  me  that  the  public  good  of  the  state  or  of  the  nation 
at  large  would  be  promoted  by  conferring  at  the  present 
time  upon  the  freedmen  the  elective  franchise.  Neither 
the  white  people  nor  the  colored  people  are  prepared  for 
so  radical  a  change  in  their  social  relations."  ^ 

The  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Times,  a  North- 

^  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  I  St  S.,  no.  30,  pt  4,  pp.  15-20. 
*  Sen.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  26,  p.  210. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE 


411 


erner,  writing  from  Tallahassee  in  July,  stated  that  "  no 
one  can  go  among  the  negroes  on  the  plantations  and 
through  the  rural  districts  of  the  South  and  consider  their 
immediate  physical  and  mental  necessities  without  a  feeling 
that  the  immediate  enfranchisement  of  this  long  oppressed 
people  would  be  like  putting  upon  the  naked  and  famished 
the  frills  and  ruffles  and  spurs  of  royalty,  while  withhold- 
ing food  and  raiment  necessary  for  existence."  ^ 

However,  Chief  Justice  Chase,  high  in  national  councils, 
had  written  from  Florida  in  the  spring  (1865)  that  local 
experiment  had  been  made  in  negro  voting  and  that  the  sal- 
vation of  the  country  depended  upon  the  enfranchisement 
of  the  black.''  Charles  Sumner  was  ready  to  "  shudder  at  " 
the  opposition  in  Florida  to  negro  suffrage.^ 

Following  the  example  set  by  the  convention  and  obedi- 
ent to  the  veiled  orders  of  the  national  administration  the 
assembled  legislature  speedily  ratified  the  Thirteenth 
Amendment  to  the  United  States  Constitution.*  On  the 
same  day  the  legislature  called  upon  the  governor  to  have 
the  negro  troops  removed  from  the  state. '^  Such  a  request 
was  not  without  dry  humor.  The  governor  had  no  con- 
trol over  negro  troops  and  little  influence  in  Washington. 
The  body  then  turned  its  attention  to  more  difficult  ques- 
tions. Its  action  in  constructive  legislation  during  this 
session  was  based  to  great  extent  upon  a  report  prepared 

'  A^.  Y.  Times,  August  i,  1865. 

*  Chase  to  Johnson,  May  21  and  23,  1865,  Johnson  Papers. 

'  Speech  of  Sumner  on  conditions  in  Florida,  Cong.  Globe,  39th  C, 
1st  S.,  pt.  I,  p.  313. 

*  McPherson,  Political  Manual,  1866,  pp.  24-25.  Ratified  Dec.  28,  1865, 
"  with  the  understanding  that  it  does  not  confer  on  Congress  the 
power  to  legislate  on  the  status  of  the  freedmen  in  this  state."  Marvin 
had  feared  trouble  in  obtaining  the  necessary  ratification,  sec  Sen. 
Docs.,  39th  C,  1st.  S.,  no.  26,  pp.  213-14. 

*  Laws  of  Florida.  14th  Assembly,  Resolutions  16,  19  and  20. 


412 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


by  a  special  commission,  created  by  Governor  Marvin  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  constitutional  convention/  The  com- 
missioners were  three  ex-slaveholders  of  Central  Florida — 
C.  H.  Dupont,  A.  J.  Peeler,  and  M.  D.  Papy — and  they  laid 
their  report  before  the  legislature. 

They  pointed  out  the  necessity  of  expanding  the  state 
judicial  system  to  meet  the  need  of  social  control  produced 
by  the  abolition  of  slavery.  They  recommended  therefore 
the  establishment  of  county  criminal  courts.  The  abolition 
of  slavery  had  removed  from  the  black  the  restraining  influ- 
ence of  the  master  and  had  left  nothing  permanent  in  its 
place.  The  ex-master  saw  the  necessity  of  bringing  the  ex- 
slave  more  fully  under  the  operations  of  the  municipal  law. 
Heretofore  there  had  existed  in  each  slave-holding  house- 
hold an  unofficial  tribunal  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  investi- 
gation and  punishment  of  minor  offenses.  Such  tribunals 
were  now  extinct.  The  legislature  was  advised  to  create 
different  ones  in  their  stead  and  to  make  such  modifications 
in  existing  statutes  as  would  give  full  effect  to  the  criminal 
code.  The  circuit  court  as  then  organized,  embracing  a 
dozen  or  more  counties  in  its  jurisdiction  and  holding  its 
sessions  at  stated  terms  weeks  apart,  was  ill  adapted  to 
deal  expeditiously  with  the  innumerable  minor  offenses  of 
the  black  (or  the  white) — and  hence  the  proposal  that 
county  criminal  courts  be  created  was  very  reasonable.^ 

The  next  question  considered  was  one  of  different  im- 
port and  more  serious  nature.  It  was  a  question  of  prin- 
ciple, viz.,  should  in  future  the  laws  make  a  distinction  be- 
tween blacks  and  whites.  Under  the  slavery  regime  such  a 
distinction  had  existed  between  whites  and  "free  blacks".' 

*  Wallace,  Carpet-bag  Rule,  pp.  28-36,  the  full  report. 
"  Report  of  Commission,  Wallace,  pp.  28-36. 

•  See  J.  C  Hurd,  Law  of  Freedom  and  Bondage,  v.  2,  pp.  1-218,  for 
a  summary  of  the  state  law  and  court  decisions  relating  to  slavery 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE  413 

Were  the  lately  liberated  slaves  to  be  considered  in  the 
category  of  the  former  "  free  blacks  ",  or  were  they  to  be 
considered  persons  in  every  respect  on  a  plane  of  legal 
equality  with  the  whites? 

Difference  of  opinion  on  this  question  showed  the  gulf 
that  existed  between  the  conservative  Southerner  and  the 
Radical  in  the  North.  The  determination  of  the  South- 
erner to  put  the  lately  liberated  slave  in  the  position  of  the 
fonr.er  "free  negro"  created  political  capital  for  the  North- 
ern negrophile,  who  professed  to  believe  that  the  process  of 
emancipation  did  not  stop  in  merely  severing  the  relations 
of  master  and  slave,  but  that  it  extended  further  and  so 
operated  as  to  raise  the  entire  race  to  a  plane  of  perfect 
legal  equality  with  the  white. 

At  this  point  a  question  logically  presents  itself.  Before 
the  abolition  of  slavery  what  was  the  position  under  the 
law  of  the  free  negro  in  Florida?  He  belonged  to  a  class 
designated  by  the  courts  and  the  legislature  as  "  free  per- 
sons of  color  ".  He  possessed  no  political  rights  whatever, 
but  he  did  possess  certain  civil  righs.  He  could  purchase, 
hold  and  convey  property  and  transmit  it  to  his  heirs.  He 
could  sue  and  be  sued  in  the  state  courts!^    He  might  law- 

in  all  states  and  territories  until  the  Civil  War.  A  distinction  in 
law  between  whiles  and  free  blacks  was  universal  in  the  South  and 
existed  to  a  limited  extent  in  the  North.  The  revised  Constitution  of 
1865  in  excluding  the  blacks  from  the  suffrage  and  from  the  jury  box 
and  witness  stand  in  civil  cases,  and  in  apportioning  representation  in 
the  legislature  according  to  the  three-fifths  rule  of  slavery,  continued 
this  distinction.  Const,  of  1865,  Arts.  6,  9,  and  16,  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C, 
1st  S.,  no.  30,  pt.  4,  pp.  20-31. 

^  "A  free  person  of  color  being  liable  to  be  sued,  it  follows  as  a  nec- 
essary consequence  that  he  is  en'itled  to  all  the  means  and  opportunity 
of  making  and  presenting  his  defense  which  are  permitted  and  al- 
lowed other  suitors,  except  where  he  is  restricted  by  the  force  of  some 
express  statutory  regulation."  Davis  vs.  Administrators  of  Elliott, 
Florida  Reports,  v.  5,  pp.  260-268. 


414  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

fully  move  from  place  to  place  in  the  state  freely  and  ac- 
cording to  his  own  volition.  He  enjoyed  the  advantages  of 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  "  A  free  negro  as  well  as  a  free 
white  man,"  stated  Chief  Justice  Thomas  Baltzell,  in  1859, 
"  must  be  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act 
both  according  to  its  language  which  is  broad  and  general 
and  still  more  according  to  its  spirit.  If  it  were  otherwise, 
that  wretched  class  would  be  altogether  without  protection 
from  the  grossest  outrage  and  their  personal  liberty  would 
be  an  unsubstantial  shadow."  ^ 

Yet  the  law  required  every  free  black  to  have  a  white 
"  guardian  "  appointed  by  a  judge  of  probate.^  He  could 
not  lawfully  keep  or  use  firearms  or  buy  them,  or  powder, 
lead,  shot  or  even  spirituous  liquor  without  the  consent  of 
this  guardian.®  He  was  forbidden  to  purchase  or  have 
poisonous  drugs  under  any  circumstances.*  He  was  for- 
bidden to  use  abusive  or  provoking  language  to  or  lift  his 
hands  in  opposition  to  any  person  "  not  a  negro  or  a  mu- 
latto ".  He  could  be  a  witness  in  the  courts  only  when 
"  slaves,  free  negroes  or  mulattoes  "  were  involved.  In 
case  of  an  execution  against  him,  "without  payment  in  five 
days  "  he  might  be  "  sold  as  a  slave  ".°  He  could  be  law- 
fully "  whipped  "  for  committing  offenses  which  entailed 

*  Clark  vs.  Gautier,  Fla.  Rpts.,  v.  8,  pp.  360-69. 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  1847-8,  chap.  155.  All  free  negroes  and  mulattoes 
above  the  age  of  12  years  were  required  to  have  a  guardian  "  who 
shall  have  power  to  sue  for  and  recover  all  such  sums  of  money  as 
are  or  hereafter  may  be  owing  to  such  free  negro  or  mulatto,  and 
shall  have  the  same  control  over  such  free  negroes  or  mulat'oes  as  is 
possessed  by  guardians  in  other  cases."  See  also  Clark  vs.  Gautier, 
Fla.  Rpts.,  v.  8,  p.  369;  Davis  vs.  Administrators  of  Elliott,  v.  5,  pp. 
260-68. 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  1856,  chapts.  794-95. 

*  Ibid.,  1843,  chap.  12. 

*  Clark  vs.  Gautier,  Fla.  Rpts.,  v.  8,  pp.  360-369. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE 


415 


no  such  punishment  for  the  white  man/  He  could  be  ap- 
prehended for  vagrancy  and  "  sold  as  a  slave  "  for  a  limited 
period.^  He  was  required  to  pay  a  small  special  capitation 
tax,  and  if  he  failed  to  pay  this,  he  was  liable  to  be  sold  as 
a  slave  till  by  labor  he  paid  up  the  debt/ 

The  free  negro  constituted,  in  fact,  a  class  midway,  as 
regards  personal  freedom,  between  the  slave  and  the  white 
man,  and  the  white  man  strove  to  restrict  both  the  size  and 
the  activity  of  this  class.  "  Their  immigration  to  this  state 
is  prohibited,  with  directions  to  the  justices  of  the  peace  to 
transport  them  beyond  the  state,"  declared  the  state  su- 
preme court  in  1859.* 

The  free  negro  population  of  Florida  was  insignificant 
in  1 86 1 — scarcely  1,000  souls/  With  the  arrival  of  eman- 
cipation in  1865  all  negroes  became  free  negroes.  The 
class  had  increased  sixty  fold.  From  an  interesting  anom- 
aly it  now  loomed  up  before  the  Southern  whites  as  the 
most  serious  social  reality  that  they  as  a  body  had  ever 
faced. 

An  important  question  for  the  legislature  to  consider  in 
1866  was  the  finding  of  ways  and  means  the  least  dis- 
turbing to  the  public  welfare  for  restraining  the  law- 
breaker and  the  criminal.  Were  blacks  and  whites  to  be 
subject  to  the  same  sort  of  punishment?  In  deciding  such 
a  question  wisely  legislatures  should  consider  the  racial  or 
ethnic  characters  of  the  peoples  under  consideration,  the  de- 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  1847-48,  chap.  139. 
'  Clark  vs.  Gautier,  pp.  360-9. 

'  Laws  of  Florida,  1842,  chap.  32. 

*  Clark  vs.  Gautier,  pp.  360-69.  See  Laws  of  Florida,  1826,  Ann  L., 
p.  81 ;  1832,  Ann.  L.,  p.  143 ;  1854-5,  chap.  646. 

*  According  to  the  census  of  i860  the  free  colored  population  of 
Florida  was  932.  Of  this  number  more  than  600  were  mulattoes.  See 
Census,  vol.  on  population,  p.  54. 


« 
41 6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

gree  and  direction  of  their  enlightenment,  and  the  historic 
relationship  of  classes.  Few  laws  are  sound  for  all  peo- 
ples at  all  times.  "  To  degrade  a  white  man  by  corporal 
punishment  "  then  was  to  make  a  bad  member  of  society, 
usually,  and  a  dangerous  political  agent.  To  fine  and  im- 
prison a  Florida  negro  in  his  pecuniary  and  intellectual 
condition  at  that  time  was  "  to  punish  the  state  instead  of 
the  individual  ".^ 

There  was  also  a  certain  practical  reason  for  a  difference 
in  punishment  for  blacks  and  whites.  To  fine  and  im- 
prison a  petty  negro  offender  would  mean  his  withdrawal 
from  work  in  the  fields.  To  whip  him  was  a  more  speedily 
terminated  interruption  and  less  damaging  to  the  white 
planter.  Historically,  also,  it  was  the  way  in  the  South 
for  punishing  recalcitrant  "  free  blacks  ".  It  seemed  there- 
fore wise  to  leave  to  the  discretion  of  the  court  the  inflict- 
ing of  fine  and  imprisonment  or  whipping  and  the  pillory 
for  the  committing  of  certain  offenses. 

The  commission  next  proposed  restrictions  on  the  right 
of  the  black  to  carry  fire-arms.  They  pointed  to  the  law 
of  Indiana  on  the  subject  and  stated  "  that  it  is  needless  to 
attempt  to  satisfy  the  exactions  of  fanatical  theorists.  We 
have  a  duty  to  perform — the  protection  of  our  wives  and 
children  from  threatened  danger  and  the  prevention  of 
scenes  which  may  cost  the  extinction  of  our  entire  race  ".* 

The  draft  of  a  bill  entitled  "  An  Act  to  Establish  and 
Enforce  the  Marriage  Relations  between  Persons  of  Color" 
was  laid  before  the  legislature  by  the  commission  with  the 
statement  that  it  was  necessary  for  the  whites  to  improve 
the  moral  condition  of  their  lately  liberated  slaves.  Hitherto 
this  matter  had  been  left  to  the  moral  sense  of  master  and 

*  Wallace,  Carpet-bag  Rule,  p.  32,  Report  of  Commission. 
»  Ibid.,  p.  2^. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE 


417 


slave — "  and  may  in  truth,"  added  the  report,  "  be  said  to 
have  been  the  only  inherent  evil  of  the  institution  of  slav- 
ery as  it  existed  in  the  Southern  states." 

Finally,  state  regulation  of  negro  labor  was  proposed  "  in 
order  to  save  the  blacks  from  the  ruin  which  inevitably 
awaits  them  if  left  to  the  tender  mercy  of  the  canting  hypoc- 
risy and  mawkish  sentimentality  which  precipitated  them 
to  the  realization  of  their  present  condition  "/ 

The  recommendations  of  the  commission  were  followed 
by  the  legislature  and  a  code  was  enacted  which  established 
county  criminal  courts  ^  and  extended  the  civil  jurisdiction 
of  the  justices  of  the  peace ;  ^  which  defined  a  negro  as  a 
person  of  one-eighth  or  more  negro  blood  in  his  veins ;  * 
which  embodied  the  principle  of  different  laws  for  the  dif- 
ferent races;  and  which  embraced,  in  addition,  the  follow- 
ing points. 

In  the  first  place,  the  courts  were  given  the  right  to  sub- 
stitute whipping  and  the  pillory  for  all  crimes  punishable 
by  fine  and  imprisonment."  This  enactment  made  provision 
for  a  difference  in  punishment  between  black  and  white. 
In  another  statute  the  courts  were  declared  open  to  all  with- 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  34. 

'Laws  of  Florida,  14th  Assembly,  chap.  1465,  passed  Jan.  11,  1866. 
The  judges  in  these  courts  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  governor.  The 
courts  were  to  have  concurrent  jurisdiction  with  the  circuit  courts  in 
trial  of  the  following  offenses:  "assault,  assault  and  battery,  assault  with 
intent  to  kill,  riot,  affray,  larceny,  robbery,  arson,  burglary,  malicious 
mischief,  vagrancy,  and  all  misdemeanors  and  offenses  against  re- 
ligion, chastity,  morality,  and  decency — provided  the  punishment  did  not 
affect  the  life  of  the  offender." 

'  Ibid.,  chap.  1477,  passed  Jan.  12.  The  justices  were  given  exclusive 
and  original  jurisdiction  in  all  suits  for  the  collection  of  debts,  dues, 
Wf.,  where  the  principal  di<l  not  exceed  $100. 

*  Ibid.,  chap.  1468,  Jan.  12. 

*  Ibid.,  chap.  1466. 


41 8  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

out  distinction  of  color  or  previous  condition.^  The  taking 
of  agricultural  fixtures  or  products  from  the  freehold  with- 
out the  owner's  permission  was  declared  larceny  and  a 
matter  for  criminal  action  by  the  state.^  This  offense  had 
been  formerly  the  subject  for  civil  suit  only.  The  negro 
thief  at  that  time  was  not  a  remunerative  individual  to  pro- 
ceed against  in  civil  suit. 

To  raise  revenue  for  the  state  government  a  general 
property  tax  of  one-half  of  one  per  cent  was  authorized, 
and  a  capitation  tax  of  $3  on  all  males  between  the  ages  of 
twenty-one  and  fifty-five  years.  If  the  capitation  tax  was 
not  paid,  the  delinquent  might  be  seized  and  hired  out  by 
the  county  officials  to  any  one  who  would  pay  the  tax.  It 
is  clear  that  the  last  provision  would  bear  very  directly  on 
the  often  penniless  and  improvident  negro.' 

Those  laws  which  made  up  what  became  popularly 
known  as  the  "  Black  Code  "  were  as  follows :  an  act  con- 
cerning ordinary  crime ;  an  act  concerning  sexual  morality ; 
acts  concerning  indigency,  vagrancy,  and  apprenticeship; 
an  act  concerning  labor  contracts;  and  an  act  establishing 
schools  for  negroes. 

Four  classes  of  offenses  were  made  punishable  by  death ; 
namely,  the  inciting  of  insurrection  among  any  portion  of 
the  population,  the  rape  of  a  white  female,  the  adminis- 
tering of  poison  to  another,  and  burglary.*  Plotting  mur- 
der, highway  robbery,  incendiarism,  malicious  trespass,  the 
wilful  killing  by  poison  or  otherwise  of  livestock  belong- 

1  Laws  of  Florida,  14th  Assembly,  chap.  1474.       *  Ibid.,  chap.  1474. 

8  Ibid.,  chap.  1501,  Jan.  16,  1866.  This  property  and  capitation  tax  law 
and  another  statute  (chap.  1503)  constituted  the  financial  measures 
of  this  session  of  the  legislature.  The  property  to  be  taxed  included 
all  real  estate,  stocks,  bonds,  capital  employed  by  merchants,  traders, 
steamship  companies,  etc.,  all  live  stock,  household  furniture,  etc. 

*■  Ibid.,  chap.  1466. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE  419 

ing  to  another,  selling  cotton  or  other  agricultural  product 
without  the  permission  of  the  producers,  the  carrying  of 
firearms  by  any  blacks  without  license,  the  intrusion  by 
white  or  black  on  any  assemblage  or  in  any  railway  car 
of  the  other  race,  the  forming  of  any  military  organization 
without  authority  of  law,  the  wanton  injury  of  public  or 
private  property,  etc.,  were  in  detail  made  punishable  by 
fine  and  imprisonment  or  whipping  and  the  pillory — at  the 
discretion  of  the  court. 

Concerning  vagrancy,  a  statute  declared  that  any  person 
without  means  of  support  should  be  required  to  give  bond 
to  the  state  for  future  good  behavior  and  industry.  Failure 
to  give  bond  involved  a  penalty  of  a  term  of  labor  for  the 
county  or  for  any  one  who  might  hire  the  offender  from 
the  county.^ 

Another  statute  required  the  adult  children  of  destitute 
parents  to  provide  for  the  support  of  their  parents.  If 
after  a  hearing  before  a  county  court  or  justice  of  the 
peace  the  law  was  not  obeyed,  then  the  wages  or  other 
source  of  income  might  be  appropriated  and  paid  to  the 
parents  by  order  of  the  court. ^ 

For  the  protection  of  the  young,  any  parent  or  guardian 
was  given  the  right  with  the  approval  of  a  judge  of  pro- 
bate to  bind  out  for  a  term  of  years  as  apprentices  his  or 
her  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age.  If  a  child  (minor) 
were  over  sixteen  years  of  age  then  his  or  her  written  con- 
sent was  necessary  before  becoming  an  apprentice.  The 
children  of  vagrants  were  ipso  facto  at  the  disposal  of  the 
county  as  apprentices. ' 

1  Laws  of  Florida,  14th  Assembly,  chap.  1467.  Those  persons  appre- 
heiwied  for  vagrancy  were  entitled  to  jury  trial.  The  jury  might  sub- 
stitute whipping'  for  forced  labor.  Minors  apprehended  for  vagrancy 
were  subject  to  the  law  governing  apprenticeship. 

*  Ibid.,  chap.  1476,  Jan.  11. 

•  Ibid.,  chap.  1471,  Jan.  14     The  person  taking  children  as  appren- 


420  ■      RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

As  to  the  marital  relations,  a  statute  gave  all  negroes 
living  together  as  man  and  wife  when  the  law  was  passed 
nine  months  to  make  up  their  minds  as  to  whom  they  in- 
tended living  with  in  the  future.  Means  were  provided  by 
the  law  for  the  easy  and  speedy  registering  of  the  marriage 
bonds  before  any  officer  of  the  state,  the  county,  or  muni- 
cipality. Failure  to  comply  with  these  regulations  subjected 
the  offender  to  punishment  for  adultery.^ 

The  attempt  to  regulate  by  law  the  labor  of  the  black  was 
in  some  respects  the  most  vital  aspect  of  the  entire  code. 
According  to  the  statute  all  contracts  with  "  persons  of 
color  "  were  required  to  be  in  writing  before  two  competent 
witnesses.  One  copy  was  to  be  kept  by  the  employer  and 
the  other  filed  with  some  judicial  officer.  If  the  black 
broke  the  contract  he  would  be  subject  to  arrest  and  the 
same  punishment  as  a  vagrant:  whipping,  the  pillory,  or 
forced  labor  for  the  county  or  for  any  one  who  would  hire 
the  offender  from  the  county.  If  a  white  broke  his  con- 
tract he  would  be  subject  to  civil  suit  for  damages.^ 

The  act  establishing  schools  for  freedmen  made  the  sys- 
tem distinct  and  separate  from  any  which  might  exist  for 
whites.  The  appointment  of  a  general  superintendent  was 
entrusted  to  the  governor  and  the  senate.  A  capitation  tax 
of  $1  upon  all  negro  males  between  twenty-one  and  fifty- 
five  years  of  age  was  levied  for  the  support  of  these  schools, 
and  under  penalty  of  fine  and  imprisonment  "  any  white 
person  "  was  forbidden  to  teach  the  freedmen  without  a 
license  from  the  state.' 

tices  covenanted  to  teach  them  some  art,  trade,  or  husbandry,  and 
also  the  element's  of  reading  and  writing — and  at  the  expiration  of 
their  time  of  service  as  apprentices  to  give  "  him  or  her  a  new  suit 
of  clothes,  blankets,  and  shoes." 

1  Laws  of  Florida,  14th  Assembly,  chap.  1469.  The  law  provided  for 
$1,000  fine  or  imprisonment  for  any  one  found  guilty  of  fraud  in  the 
issuance  of  marriage  licenses. 

*  Ibid.,  chap.  1470,  Jan.  14.  •  Ibid.,  chap.  1475,  Jan.  16. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE 


421 


The  foregoing,  in  digest,  constituted  Florida's  "  Black 
Code  "of  1866.  The  primary  object  of  these  laws  was  to 
force  the  black  to  conform  to  certain  existing  conditions  of 
morals  and  industry.  The  manner  in  which  he  should  con- 
form, it  is  needless  to  say,  was  imposed  by  the  white  race, 
who  could  to  some  extent  control  the  black  race  if  it  could 
enforce  the  law.  The  principle  of  different  laws  for  differ- 
ent races  was  adhered  to  mainly  because  the  existence  of 
this  principle  was  then  an  historical  fact  in  Florida.  By 
actual  wording,  the  statutes  concerning  labor  contracts, 
marriages,  the  carrying  of  firearms,  and  certain  public 
schools  appertained  to  negroes  solely.  Rape  was  a  statu- 
tory crime  only  when  perpetrated  on  "  white  women  ". 

The  laws  strove  to  keep  the  two  races  apart.  They  pro- 
vided for  the  punishment  of  any  white  woman  who  should 
co-habit  with  a  negro  man,  and  a  like  punishment  for  the 
negro  man ;  ^  for  the  establishment  of  a  distinct  and  separ- 
ate public  school  system  for  negroes;  and  for  the  punish- 
ment of  any  person  of  either  race  who  should  intrude  him- 
self on  an  assemblage  or  into  a  railway  car  of  the  other 
race.  This  legislation  contained  no  reference  to  the  ir- 
regular sexual  activities  of  white  male  and  black  female — 
an  interesting  omission  in  light  of  the  efforts  made  to  draw 
clearly  the  color  line.  The  law-makers  were  worldly  wise 
enough  to  know  that  some  ideas  drafted  into  law  would  be 
impossible  to  enforce  and  of  no  practical  effect.  Nowhere 
do  written  laws  prove  more  futile  than  when  applied  to 
some  sexual  questions. 

The  black  was  left  free  to  move  about  and  acquire  land 
and  other  property  as  he  saw  fit,  provided  that  in  so  doing 
he  did  not  break  his  contract,  neglect  his  family,  or  lapse 
into  vagrancy. 

^  Laws  of  Florida,  14th  Assembly,  chap.  1468,  Jan.  12.  The  punish- 
ment was  $1,000  fine  or  three  months'  imprisonment  or  both  at  the 
court's  discretion. 


422  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Were  these  laws  put  into  active  and  actual  operation — 
enforced?    Were  they  substantially  just  to  the  negro ?^ 

The  laws  concerning  marriage,  vagrancy,  apprenticeship 
and  contracts  were  fairly  successful,  with  other  forces,  in 
producing  the  effect  desired — which  was  to  induce  the 
negro  to  return  to  more  systematic  life  and  labor. ^  Much 
of  the  legislation  was  never  widely  operative,  partly  be- 
cause there  was  no  need — the  menace  of  the  law  proving 
sufficient  for  the  evil — and  partly  because  the  Federal  mili- 
tary and  particularly  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  threatened  to 
interfere  and  did  interfere  in  the  execution  of  the  law. 

"  For  instance,"  writes  an  intelligent  negro  who  lived  in 
Florida  at  the  time,  "  the  law  prohibiting  colored  people 
from  handling  arms  of  any  kind  without  a  license  was  a 
dead  letter,  except  in  some  cases  where  the  f  reedmen  would 
go  around  plantations  hunting,  with  apparently  no  other 
occupation.  Such  a  person  would  be  suspected  of  hunting 
that  which  did  not  belong  to  him  and  the  arms  would  be 
taken  away  from  him."  ^    The  statute  upon  which  this  pro- 

*  See  comment  of  John  Wallace,  an  intelligent  Florida  negro,  in  his 
Carpet-bag  Rule,  pp.  35-36 :  "  It  is  true  that  some  of  the  laws  passed 
by  the  Legislature  of  1865  seem  to  be  very  diabolical  and  oppressive 
to  the  freedmen  but  .  .  .  many  of  the  laws  we  know  now  were  passed 
to  deter  the  freedmen  from  committing  crime.  .  .  .  The  law  regard- 
ing contracts  between  whites  and  freedmen  was  taken  advantage  of 
by  some  of  the  whites  and  the  freedmen  did  not  get  justice.  But 
the  great  majority  of  whites  carried  out  their  contracts  to  the  letter 
and  the  freedmen  did  as  well  as  could  be  expected  under  the  changed 
conditions."  For  contradictory  evidence  see  testimony  of  Hobbs, 
Supt.  Negro  Schools,  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  30,  pL  4,  pp.  8-9. 

'  N.  Y.  Times,  June  8  and  25,  1866,  letters  of  Benj.  Truman  from 
Florida.  N.  Y.  World,  May  31,  1866,  letter  of  Russell.  Some  of  the 
negro  women  now  refused  to  go  into  the  fields  because  such  was  not 
the  custom  of  "white  ladies".  Russell  remarks  that  the  black  was 
"  very  imitative  ".  See  also  evidence  of  Truman  before  Reconstruction 
Committee,  Washington,  April  5,  1866,  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no. 
30,  pt.  4,  pp.  136-140. 

•  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  35-36. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE 


423 


hibition  rested  was  pronounced  by  the  Conservative  state 
attorney-general  unconstitutional.  The  governor  upheld 
him,  the  assistant  commissioner  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau 
insisted  upon  the  repudiation  of  the  law/  and  the  statute 
became  practically  a  dead  letter. 

However,  written  contracts  according  to  law  were  en- 
tered into,  negro  children  were  apprenticed,  vagrants  were 
apprehended  and  lodged  in  jail  or  put  to  labor  in  the  fields, 
and  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  was  aided  by  probate  courts 
in  settling  the  marital  difficulties  of  negroes. 

It  is  undeniable  that  these  laws  put  the  black  in  a  posi- 
tion inferior  to  the  white.  That  was  in  part  their  object. 
"  White  citizens  would  resist  any  legislation  that  would  aj)- 
pear  to  put  freedmen  on  equality  with  whites,"  stated  a 
Pennsylvanian  in  1866,  who  was  at  the  time  superintendent 
of  negro  schools  for  Florida.^  His  conclusion  was  not  un- 
founded on  fact.  But  this  inferiority  did  not  put  the  negro 
at  the  mercy  of  the  white  man — unless  there  was  deliberate 
and  criminal  collusion  between  oppressor  and  the  courts  of 
justice.  The  inferior  position  of  the  black  made  it  impos- 
sible for  him  to  bring  political  pressure  to  bear  upon  the 
personnel  of  the  courts,  which  were  entirely  in  the  hands  of 
the  other  race. 

Florida's  Black  Code,  as  a  part  of  Southern  legislation 
on  the  negro  during  1865-66,  hurt  the  cause  of  the  Conser- 
vatives in  the  nation.'  The  cry  was  raised  so  vehemently 
at  the  North  that  the  negro  was  being  re-enslaved  with 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  40,  passim. 

•  N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  March  16,  1866,  letter  of  L.  M.  Hobbs  to  Presi- 
dent of  N.  Y.  Freedmen's  Relief  Association.  This  is  in  substance 
corroborated  by  Hobbs'  testimony  before  the  Reconstruction  Com- 
mittee, H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  30,  pt.  4,  pp.  7-11. 

s  See  Dunning,  Reconst.  Polit.  and  Econ.;  Rhodes,  U.  S.,  v.  5.  Cox 
in  his  Three  Decades  of  Legislation  says  of  the  passage  of  these  laws, 
"Thus  was  Florida  launched  on  a  sea  of  trouble". 


424  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

malicious  and  cunning  intent  by  the  ex-Confederate  element 
South  that  the  query  naturally  arises — to  what  extent  was 
the  accusation  true?  What  was  the  spirit  back  of  these 
laws?  We  have  reviewed  briefly  their  letter  and  have  seen 
that  their  execution  was  not  drastic. 

Speaking  for  Florida  as  well  as  for  the  entire  South,  it 
should  be  observed  that  at  least  three  fairly  distinct  opinions 
have  been  pronounced.  Those  hostile  to  Southern  institu- 
tions declare  that  the  "  Black  Codes  "  were  deliberate  and 
diabolical  attempts  to  remand  the  negro  back  to  slavery  by 
means  of  legal  subterfuge,  in  defiance  of  the  results  of  the 
war.  Those  persons  of  considerable  Southern  bias  are  inclined 
either  to  express  no  opinion  at  all  or  to  place  the  laws 
among  the  genuinely  good  and  wise  codes  produced  by  a 
kindly  interest  in  the  future  welfare — spiritual,  moral,  and 
physical — of  the  ex-slave.  Those  persons  of  harder  nature, 
harder  heads,  perhaps,  and  more  coolly-distant  viewpoint 
pronounce  them  cold-blooded  but  not  diabolical  attempts  to 
bring  economic  and  social  order  out  of  semi-chaos  in  order 
that  life  might  be  safer,  saner,  and  more  settled.  They  see 
no  conscious  attempts  to  contradict  the  results  of  the  war 
or  to  persecute  the  negro. 

Actual  conditions  and  not  sentimental  vindictiveness  pro- 
duced the  Black  Codes.  It  is  worth  while  to  consider  the 
following  facts  in  explaining  the  evolution  of  this  legisla- 
tion in  Florida.  The  Federal  military  commander  for 
Florida  in  July,  1865 — six  months  before  the  meeting  of 
the  legislature  that  enacted  the  "Black  Code" — had  issued 
orders  "  To  preserve  order,  to  diminish  the  evils  of  va- 
grancy, and  to  provide  for  the  well-being  of  the  commu- 
nity ".  Negroes  were  domiciled  by  these  orders  with 
former  masters.  The  whites  were  required  to  support  the 
aged,  the  infirm,  and  young  children — the  latter  practically 
as  apprentices.    Blacks  who  disregarded  contracts  would  be 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE  425 

punished  by  the  military/  On  August  nth,  elaborate  mar- 
riage rules  had  been  issued  by  the  Federal  military  for  the 
Department  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Florida  to 
force  domestic  regularity  and  responsibility  upon  the  negro. ^ 

A  study  of  the  legislation  on  the  race  question  in  Florida 
during  this  period — and  of  the  efforts  to  apply  the  laws — 
induces  the  conclusion  that  the  ultimate  goal  in  theory  and 
the  limited  effect  in  reality  was  to  put  the  state  much  in  the 
place  of  the  former  master — to  socialize,  as  it  were,  the 
control  of  a  class  through  the  courts  and  officers  of  the  law; 
but  at  the  same  time  to  give  the  negro  vastly  greater  per- 
sonal freedom  than  formerly.  The  Black  Codes  are  a 
sadly  late  suggestion  of  what  might  have  been  accomplished 
without  the  hell  of  four  years'  devastating  war.  At  the 
same  time  they  then  constituted  a  cause  and  a  hint  of  com- 
ing trouble. 

Did  fear  of  negro  insurrection  influence  the  legislature? 
We  have  the  record  of  that  body  and  the  drift  of  current 
opinion  on  which  to  construct  an  answer  to  any  such  query. 

^  Order  no.  9,  July  3,  1865,  of  Gen.  Newton,  N.  Y.  Times,  Aug.  i, 
1865.  This  was  modified  later.  Circular  no.  8,  Oct.  10,  1865,  from 
the  War  Department,  stated  that  "officers  and  agents  of  this  Bureau 
are  regarded  as  guardians  of  orphans  and  abandoned  minors  of 
freedmen  within  their  respective  districts,  and  state  laws  with  regard  to 
apprenticeship  w'll  be  recognized  as  long  as  they  make  no  distinction  on 
account  of  color " ;  and  that  children  might  be  apprenticed  to  "  some 
good  trade.  .  .  .  The  binding  of  an  apprentice  shall  be  before  the 
county  court  and  recorded  as  provided  by  law."  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C, 
1st  S.,  no.  70,  p.  56.  These  instructions  also  dealt  with  paupers, 
vagrants,  and  criminals  in  a  positive  spirit. 

^  Ibid.,  pp.  108-111,  Gen.  Order  no.  8.  These  orders  authorized  civil 
officers  and  religious  organizations  to  issue  marriage  permits  for  50 
cents  each,  to  perform  the  ceremony  and  issue  the  certificate  for 
$1  each,  and  to  dissolve  marriages  according  to  certain  rules  set 
down.  The  rules  also  attempted  to  regulate  the  position  pf  a  hus- 
band with  more  than  one  wife  and  more  than  one  set  of  children, 
and  to  provide  for  the  destitute  children. 


426  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  resolutions  of  the  legislature  calling  upon  the  gov- 
ernor to  "  use  his  utmost  endeavors  to  put  the  state  in  a 
complete  state  of  defense  against  any  insurrectionary  move- 
ment of  any  source  whatever ;  ^  the  direct  and  repeated 
references  in  the  laws  to  possible  "  insurrection  among  a 
certain  portion  of  the  population  " ;  the  severe  penalty  for 
"  inciting  insurrection  " ;  the  penalty  for  raising  a  military 
force  without  authority  from  the  state;  ^  the  forbidding  of 
the  blacks  to  carry  firearms ; '  the  prior  warning  of  the 
constitutional  convention  that  "  we  have  a  duty  to  perform 
in  the  protection  of  our  women  and  children,  etc." ;  and  the 
current  reports  of  what  the  negroes  might  do  if  land  and 
mules  were  not  given  them  * — all  indicate  that  there  existed 
a  feeling  of  vague  fear  among  the  whites. 

Throughout  the  state  during  1866  affairs  moved  along 
amid  some  vague  talk  of  race  war  and  some  disorder.^ 
May  1 2th,  the  jurisdiction  of  the  courts  was  provisionally 
restored  in   all   cases. **     In  Fernandina,  Jacksonville,   St. 

1  Ibid.,  Resolution  17,  Jan.  3. 

'  Ibid.,  chap.  1406,  Jan.  15.  '  Ibid.,  chap.  1466. 

*  For  instance,  see  speech  of  Marvin,  N.  Y.  Daily  News,  Oct.  27, 
1865;  A'^.  Y.  Times,  Dec.  25,  1865  (statement  of  Truman);  Floridian, 
Aug.  30,  Sept.  3,  Sept.  17,  1865. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  July  27,  1866,  Florida  letter,  "  agriculture  in  a  flour- 
ishing condition,  etc."  N.  Y.  Times,  March  15,  June  8,  June  15,  1866, 
Florida  letters.  Truman  reported  "  very  little  crime  such  as  robbery, 
grand  larceny,  murder,  etc."  N.  Y.  World,  July  — ,  1866  (Town- 
send  Library,  v.  6,  p.  206)  ;  N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  Oct.  20,  1866 ;  H.  Ex. 
Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  70;  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  57. 

•Governor's  Proclamation,  Florida  Union,  May  12,  1866;  see  also 
N.  Y.  Times,  May  21,  1866.  The  President  declared  the  war  "  at  an 
end"  on  April  2  (McPherson,  Reconstruction,  pp.  15-16).  This  did 
not  restore  civil  authority  in  Florida.  Martial  law  was  suspended 
at  the  discretion  of  the  military  commander.  For  example,  see  order 
of  U.  S.  Marshal  Crippen  (negro)  at  Fernandina  to  justices  of  peace 
threatening  them  with  the  military,  Fla.  Union,  May  26,  1866.  Later 
several  counties  were  remanded  to  martial  law  completely. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE 


427 


Augustine  and  a  half-dozen  other  localities  ex-Confed- 
erates and  "  Union  men  "  quarreled  over  confiscated  prop- 
erty.^ In  Jacksonville  and  Fernandina  blacks  and  whites 
came  near  serious  collision  over  trifling  differences.^  Es- 
cambia, Santa  Rosa,  Levy,  Madison  and  Alachua  Counties 
were  remanded  back  to  martial  law  because  of  alleged  law- 
lessness. In  Quincy  (Gadsden  County)  a  deputy  sheriff 
and  three  white  men  were  shot  from  ambush  one  June 
night  by  some  negro  cotton  theives  whom  they  sought  to 
arrest  after  a  jail  delivery.^  Near  Tampa  bay  the  members 
of  an  "  armed  band  "  were  reported  amusing  themselves 
by  forcing  "  Union  men  "  to  pay  for  cattle  taken  by  Union 
troops  during  the  war.*  In  Tallahassee  "  a  party  of  col- 
ored persons  armed  with  various  weapons"  collected  before 
the  white  Methodist  Church  "  and  upon  being  accosted  by 
the  marshal  of  the  city  and  other  citizens,  fired  at  the  citi- 
zens with  guns  and  pistols  ".°  In  Leon  County  the  negroes, 
believing  that  they  had  been  enfranchised,  elected  a  mulatto, 

^  Florida  Union,  May  5  and  26,  1866.  N.  Y.  Herald,  June  2,  1866. 
N.  Y.  World,  May  31,  1866.  Senator  Sprague,  of  .Rhode  Island,  was 
reported  to  be  a  heavy  buyer  of  confiscated  property  in  and  near  Fer- 
nandina. The  sale  of  property  confiscated  in  Florida  from  April  i, 
1865,  to  Feb.  I,  1866,  was  computed  by  Secretary  of  Treasury  at  $29,- 
271.12,  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  47. 

*  A''.  Y.  Tribune,  June  7;  N.  Y.  World,  May  31,  1866.  Negroes  occu- 
pied abandoned  and  confiscated  property.  Former  owners  attempted 
to  get  physical  possession  again.  The  negroes  under  the  encourage- 
ment of  "  newcomers "  resisted  by  force  attempts  to  oust  them.  In 
Jacksonville  the  younger  white  men  were  inclined  to  show  the  blacks 
"  what  was  what ".  A  race  war  was  feared.  See  also  H.  Ex.  Docs., 
40th  C.,  2nd  S.,  no.  57. 

^  N.  Y.  Times,  June  25,  1866,  letter  of  Benj.  Truman. 

*■  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  57,  p.  89.  Rpt.  of  Gen.  Sprague 
(U.  S.  A.). 

'Towns  and  Watkins  vs.  City  of  Tallahassee,  Fla.  Rpts.,  v.  11,  pp. 
130-134- 


428  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Joe  Oats,  to  represent  them  in  Congress.  He  left  Talla- 
hassee with  the  cash  given  him  by  his  poverty-stricken  and 
enthusiastic  constituents,  spent  it  somewhere  (probably  in 
the  neighboring  state  of  Georgia),  and  then  returned  and 
told  with  frank  dishonesty  to  an  assembled  host  of  blacks 
what  he  had  done  for  them  "  at  Washington  ".^ 

January  15th,  1866,  the  legislature  declared  that  Florida 
had  fully  complied  with  all  the  requirements  contained  in 
the  President's  plan  of  reconstruction  and  therefore  was 
entitled  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  a  state  in  the 
Union.'^  But  the  "  President's  plan  "  was  not  that  of  a 
powerful  element  in  Congress,  and  Mr.  Johnson  was  at 
that  moment  well  launched  on  his  desperate  and  memorable 
fight  with  a  Radical  Congress.  He  vetoed  the  Freedmen's 
Bureau  Bill  on  February  19th.'  On  March  2nd  the  Senate 
adopted  resolutions  previously  passed  by  the  House  for- 
bidding the  admission  to  Congress  of  representatives  from 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  38-39.    Joe  Oats  was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  a 

former  slave  of  Governor  Walker.  He  could  read  and  write  and 
before  being  set  free  had  hired  himself  from  his  master.  "  Several 
hundred  dollars  were  raised,"  says  Wallace,  "  and  given  to  Oats,  who 
shortly  afterwards  was  off  to  Congress.  He  remained  away  from 
Tallahassee  until  his  money  was  gone,  when  he  wrote  back  designating 
the  time  and  place  he  would  return.  Oats  notified  them  that  if  they 
desired  to  know  what  he  had  done  for  them  while  in  Congress  they 
must  prepare  to  meet  him,  as  the  whites  would  kill  him  when  they 
learned  what  he  had  accomplished  against  them.  The  20th  of  May, 
the  day  on  which  Gen.  McCook  marched  his  troops  into  Tallahassee, 
was  set  apart  for  Oats  to  tell  the  freedmen  what  he  had  accomplished 
in  Congress.  At  9  o'clock  on  that  memorable  20' h  of  May  the  drums 
commenced  beating  and  the  freedmen  to  the  number  of  two  or  three 
thousand  formed  in  line  and  marched  to  Oats'  dwelling  and  sent  a 
committee  armed  with  old  cavalry  swords  and  pistols  to  escort  Oats 
to  the  place  of  destination." 

*  Laws  of  Fla.,  14th  Assembly,  Resolution  12. 

*  McPherson,  Reconstruction,  pp.  68-72. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE 


429 


the  South.^  On  March  27th,  the  Civil  Rights  Bill  was 
vetoed  by  the  President.^  The  Senate  passed  the  Bill  over 
his  veto  April  6th  and  the  House  on  the  9th.  ^  In  July,  a 
bill  continuing  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  for  two  years  was 
passed  over  the  President's  veto.*  "  At  Washington  the 
Radicals  were  in  full  hue  and  cry  against  the  President, 
especially  since  his  Washington's  Birthday  pronunciamento, 
and  he  was  too  old  a  campaigner  to  shrink  from  a  fair  and 
square  fight  for  his  ideas."  * 

Florida  felt  the  effects  of  the  national  political  embroglio. 
The  outcome  of  the  contest  between  the  President  and  Con- 
gress was  of  vital  importance  for  the  state.  Resolutions  of 
the  legislature  and  messages  from  the  governor  indicated 
solidarity  in  favor  of  Johnson  and  against  Congressional 
Radicalism.®  The  senators-elect  from  Florida — ex-Gover- 
nor Marvin  and  Wilkinson  Call,  a  Florida  Unionist  and  an 
ex-Confederate  respectively — were  refused  admission  to 
the  United  States  Senate.  When  Senator  Doolittle  pre- 
sented Marvin's  credentials  (July  19th),  Charles  Sumner 
arose  and  vehemently  offered  opposition.  He  took  occa- 
sion bitterly  to  review  what  he  considered  the  shocking  con- 
ditions in  Florida.  He  insisted  that  no  decent  government 
could  exist  there  while  the  negro  was  refused  the  elective 
franchise.  The  motion  to  admit  Marvin  was  laid  on  the 
table  and  not  taken  up  again. '^ 

1  McPherson,  Reconstruction,  p.  72. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  74-78. 
*Ibid.,  pp.  80-81. 

*Ibid.,  pp.  147-151,  July  16. 

5  Dunning,  Reconst.  Polit.  and  Econ.,  pp.  62-68. 

•  Laws  of  Florida,  14th  Assembly,  Resolution  12 ;  N.  Y.  Times,  May 
21,  1866. 

''Cong.  Globe,  39th  C,  ist  S.  (1865-6),  pt.  i,  p.  313.     See  also  A^  Y. 


430  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  supremacy  of  civil  law  was  never  fully  realized  dur- 
ing Governor  Walker's  administration — February,  1866, 
to  March,  1867.  On  April  27th  (1866),  General  Foster, 
the  Federal  commander  of  the  District  of  Florida,  an- 
nounced that  the  President's  proclamation  of  April  2nd, 
which  declared  the  "  insurrection  "  at  an  end/  did  not  re- 
move martial  law.  He  ordered  that  all  persons  under  mili- 
tary arrest  be  turned  over  to  the  civil  authorities,  except 
members  of  the  Federal  army.  He  further  directed  that  all 
post  commanders  in  Florida  make  no  arrests  in  future  on 
their  own  responsibility,  "  except  in  the  absence  of  the 
proper  civil  authorities  or  upon  their  neglect  or  refusal  to 
do  their  duty."  ^  This  meant  that  the  state  government 
was  to  operate  with  the  sufferance  of  the  Federal  military. 
Foster  left  no  doubt  as  to  this.  "  Should  any  case  arise," 
he  announced,  "  where  a  citizen  believes  that  he  has  not 
received  justice  at  the  hands  of  the  civil  authorities,  he 
may  make  appeal  with  the  papers  in  the  case  to  these  head- 
quarters "  [military].^ 

Alarming  reports  came  from  several  localities  to  the 
effect  that  Union  men  were  being  persecuted  by  their  ex- 
Confederate  neighbors.  Stories  of  rapine,  murder,  and 
robbery  were  garnered  up,  exaggerated,  sometimes  fabri- 
cated to  suit  the  occasion,  and  then  sent  to  military  head- 
quarters or  the  Congressional  Reconstruction  Committee 
in  Washington.     "  Every  other  house  almost  is  a  drinking 

Herald,  Jan.  20,  1866;  A^.  Y.  World,  Jan.  4,  1866  (editorial  comment 
on  Sumner's  speech)  ;  Storey's  Charles  Sumner,  pp.  309-310;  Mc- 
Pherson,  Political  Manual,  1866,  pp.  107-108.  Marvin  and  Call  had 
been  elected  to  the  U.  S.  Senate  against  Generals  Finley  and  Anderson, 
two  well-known  Confederate  leaders. 
'  McPherson,  Reconstruction,  pp.  15-17. 

*  Gen.  Ord.  no.  28,  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  57,  p.  9. 

•  Gen.  Ord.  no.  28. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE  431 

saloon  and  there  is  fighting  in  every  direction,"  testified  a 
man  from  Florida  before  this  committee.^  Early  in  June 
(1866),  General  Foster  ordered  all  civil  officers  in  Escam- 
bia, Levy,  Madison,  Santa  Rosa,  and  Alachua  Counties  to 
be  arrested  and  held  in  custody  by  the  military  till  the  per- 
sons accused  of  murdering  or  having  attempted  to  murder 
Union  men  and  Federal  soldiers  should  be  punished.^ 
For  the  remaining  months  of  Conservative  rule  these  coun- 
ties were  nominally  under  complete  martial  law. 

"  The  more  I  observe  the  more  I  am  convinced  that  the 
presence  of  a  military  force  will  be  absolutely  necessary  for 
at  least  one  or  two  years  more,  if  not  for  a  longer  period," 
complacently  stated  General  Foster  in  July,  1866.  "  With- 
out this  military  control  the  condition  of  the  colored  people 
will  be  nearly  as  bad  as  in  the  days  of  slavery,  and  many 
ex-officers  and  Northern  men  now  settling  and  investing 
capital  in  this  state  will  be  forced  to  abandon  their  enter- 
prise and  leave."  ' 

A  member  of  the  Reconstruction  Committee  demanded 
of  a  witness,  "  What  protection  would  there  be  for  the  col- 
ored people  if  the  troops  were  withdrawn  entirely  from  the 
state  [Florida]  ?  "  "  In  the  only  portion  I  have  any  knowl- 
edge of  there  would  be  no  difficulty,"  was  the  reply,  "  be- 
cause there  would  be  a  sufficient  number  of  colored  people 
to  thrash  them  [Southern  whites]  out  with  a  good  com- 
mander. Were  there  not  a  majority  of  them  [negroes] 
their  condition  would  be  very  bad."  * 

1  H.  Rpts.,  39fth  C,  I  St  S.,  no.  30,  pt.  4,  p.  5. 

»  Gen.  Ords.  no.  34,  June  9,  1866,  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no. 
57,  p.  II. 

•  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  57,  pp.  12-13.    Gen.  Foster  was  the 
commanding  officer  in  the  sub-district  of  Florida. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C.,  ist  S.,  no.  30,  pt.  4,  p.  4.     Testimony  of  J.  W.  Ricks 
before  Reconstruction  Committee,  Jan.,  1866. 


432  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Although  the  Federal  military  never  relinquished  during 
Walker's  administration  its  right  to  interfere  at  pleasure 
in  the  execution  of  state  law,  yet  the  civil  officers  and  courts 
steadily  acquired  greater  freedom.  The  President's  procla- 
mation of  August  20th,  1866,  declared  that  "  Civil  author- 
ity "  existed  throughout  the  whole  of  the  United  States, 
General  Foster  in  Florida  requested  an  interpretation  of 
this  proclamation,  "  Does  it  restore  the  privilege  of  the 
writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  f  "  he  asked,  "  Does  it  abolish  the 
supremacy  of  martial  law  ?  " 

A  sharp  conflict  of  authority  had  occurred  in  Tallahassee. 
The  civil  authorities  there  and  over  the  state  generally  were 
becoming  restive.  Several  Federal  soldiers  had  been  ar- 
rested in  Tallahassee  and  lodged  in  jail,  charged  with  disor- 
derly conduct,  Foster  ordered  their  release.  His  orders 
were  obeyed.  On  November  ist,  the  Adjutant-General  at 
Washington  directed  him  to  refrain  from  interfering  with 
the  civil  government  except  where  state  law  conflicted  with 
Federal  law.  He  was  to  be  the  judge  of  any  such  conflict. 
The  first  duty  of  the  Federal  military  in  Florida  was  con- 
ceived to  be  the  protection  of  life  and  property.  Demands 
came  to  Congress  from  Florida  that  greater  Federal  pro- 
tection be  extended  the  negro  and  the  "  truly  loyal  "  white 
there. 

The  passage  of  the  Civil  Rights  Bill  by  Congress  in 
March,  1866,  was  meant  to  extend  through  the  civil  law 
this  desired  Federal  protection.  Primarily  it  was  "  de- 
signed to  secure  to  the  freedmen  through  the  normal  action 
of  the  courts  "  the  same  protection  against  discriminating 
state  legislation  that  was  secured  in  the  Freedmen's  Bureau 
courts. 

Its  enactment  was  closely  watched  and  sharply  com- 
mented on  in  Florida.  The  small  town  politician,  the  idle 
whittler,    the   planter,    the    lawyer,    the   doctor,    and    the 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE 


433 


preacher  all  co-operated  with  the  editors  of  the  weekly 
newspapers  in  expounding  the  true  character  of  the  Fed- 
eral Civil  Rights  Act.  Some  professed  to  see  in  it  an  at- 
tempt to  give  suffrage  to  the  negro.  ^  Others  gave  it  less 
political  interpretation.  Practically  all  condemned  it  as 
a  revolutionary  and  pernicious  piece  of  legislation. 

It  was  not  vigorously  enforced  in  Florida.  The  Civil 
Rights  commissioners  were  never  appointed,  and  the  Fed- 
eral courts  did  not  exert  themselves  to  set  the  law  in  oper- 
ation.^ Its  principal  effect  was  to  restrain  the  state  courts 
from  a  too  rigid  enforcement  of  the  Black  Code.  For 
instance,  when  the  assistant  commissioner  of  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau  threatened  trouble  under  the  Civil  Rights 
Act  the  Conservative  attorney-general  and  the  governor 
united  in  repudiating  the  statute  forbidding  blacks  to  carry 
firearms,  because  "  it  was  not  in  conformity  with  the  con- 
stitution "  which  stipulated  that  all  free  inhabitants  should 
enjoy  the  same  rights  of  person  and  property.^  Local 
tribunals  thereupon  hesitated  to  enforce  this  necessary  state 
law.  Would  the  entire  Black  Code — the  labor  contract 
law,  the  apprentice  law,  the  vagrancy  law,  the  marriage 
law,  the  negro  school  law,  etc. — come  into  conflict  with  the 
Federal  Civil  Rights  Law  and  become  inoperative  by  the 
ruling  of  Federal  courts  backed  by  Federal  troops?  Such 
a  possibility  was  before  the  people  of  Florida  at  this  time. 

Union-Republicans  and  Conservatives  in  Florida  were  re- 
sponsive to  the  contest  over  the  Southern  question  then 
going  on  in  the  nation  at  large.  A  meeting  to  organize 
the  "  Union  Party  "  was  held  in  Tampa  late  in  April — and 
there  it  was  proposed  to  send  a  delegation  to  Washington 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  57,  p.  10. 
2  Ihid.,  pp.  14,  16. 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  40.  For  the  provision  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  1865  see  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  30,  pt.  4,  p.  30,  art.  16. 


434  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

to  present  to  Congress  the  "  real  sentiment "  of  the  "  loyal 
men  "of  Florida.  The  resolutions  called  upon  all  citizens 
to  give  their  support  to  those  men  who  during  the  late  war 
had  been  "loyal"  to  the  Union,  and  to  repudiate  completely 
the  "  ex-Confederate  "  class/ 

On  receiving  news  that  a  national  convention  of  Conser- 
vatives would  meet  in  Philadelphia  in  August,  Governor 
Walker  appointed  a  delegation  to  represent  the  state.  The 
delegation  included  ex-slave-holders,  ex-Confederates,  Flor- 
ida loyalists,  and  one  ofificer  of  the  Federal  army.''  This 
was  a  fairly  representative  body.  All  were  counted  Conser- 
vatives, although  their  party  affiliations  were  various. 
They  took  their  part  in  the  Johnson  convention  which  met 
in  Philadelphia  on  the  14th  of  August.^ 

*  Florida  Union,  May  S  and  17,  1866.  The  central  committee  ap- 
pointed at  this  meeting  consisted  of  C.  R.  Mobley,  W.  A.  Linly,  and  W. 
Mansell,  of  Tampa;  G.  B.  Allen,  of  Key  West;  O.  B.  Hart  (future 
Rep.  Governor),  of  Jacksonville;  Capt.  Galloway  (U.  S.  A.),  of  Pen- 
sacola,  and  J.  W.  Culpepper,  of  Jasper.  It  was  proposed  to  send  Hart 
to  Washington.  The  chief  Radical  newspaper  in  Florida  at  the  time 
was  the  Jacksonville  Times,  W.  H.  Christie,  editor.  Christie  was  an 
active  politician.  See  his  editorial  on  the  local  political  situation  May 
22,  1866. 

*  Florida  Times,  July  26,  1866;  A^.  Y.  World,  July  31  O),  1866. 
(Townsend  Library,  v.  67,  p.  206.)  The  delega'es  were  appointed  with 
some  respect  to  the  established  sections  of  Florida.  West  Florida : 
Benj.  D.  Wright,  O.  M.  Avery,  Geo.  Walker,  Geo.  S.  Hawkins,  F.  F. 
Pittman,  J.  L.  Dunham;  Middle  Florida:  J.  B.  Love,  Robt.  Davidson, 
Wilk.  Call,  J.  L.  McKibben  (U.  S.  Army),  Geo.  W.  Scott,  R.  H. 
Gamble,  M.  D.  Papy,  Thos.  Randall,  A.  Hopkins;  East  Florida:  F. 
McLeod,  T.  O.  Holmes,  J.  B.  Dawkins,  M.  Solano,  J.  S.  Maxwell; 
South  Florida :  Wm.  Marvin,  W.  C.  Maloney,  and  J.  Gettis. 

'  For  the  part  taken  by  the  Florida  representatives  see  A^  Y.  Times, 
Aug.  15,  1866;  A^.  Y.  Herald,  Aug.  15  and  17,  1866;  A^.  Y.  World,  Aug. 
16,  1866.  Jas.  B.  Dawkins  was  on  the  Conven' ion's  Committee  on 
Organization;  Judge  Thomas  Randall  was  a  vice-president;  Benj.  D. 
Wright  was  a  secretary ;  and  Marvin  and  Call  were  on  the  Committee 
on  Resolutions  and  Addresses,  and  Call  was  on  the  National  Union  Ex- 
ecutive Committee. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE  435 

Not  to  be  outdone  by  Conservatives  the  local  Radical 
leaders  came  together  in  Tallahassee  on  August  22nd  and 
appointed  a  delegation  for  the  Loyalists'  convention  in 
Philadelphia,  September  3rd.  The  delegates  were  new  ar- 
rivals in  the  state  or  new  politicians  among  the  natives/ 
All  were  white.  They  attended  the  Philadelphia  meeting 
and  with  the  others  made  a  demonstration  for  Congress.^ 

Governor  Walker,  cognizant  of  the  bitter  contest  cen- 
tering in  Washington,  had  counseled  all  in  Florida  to  stand 
by  the  President  and  "  show  by  the  beauty  of  their  lives  " 
that  Radical  accusation  of  bad  purpose  in  the  South  was 
false.^  Radicals  were  not  then  looking  for  beautiful  lives 
in  politics  and  it  is  doubtful  if  they  would  have  recorded 
truthfully  the  fact  had  they  found  any  in  Florida. 

The  year  1866  drew  to  a  close.  A  short  cotton  crop, 
due  to  causes  beyond  the  control  of  man,  hurt  business  in 
the  South  and  cast  discredit  upon  the  labor  contract  system. 
Bureau  agents  divided  grudgingly  the  control  of  the  negro 
with  local  judges,  justices  of  the  peace,  and  employers.  The 
legislature  met  and  went  through  its  usual  routine  of  pass- 
ing necessary  and  unnecessary  laws — depending  on  the 
point  of  view — but  the  Black  Code  was  not  added  to.  The 
problem  of  Conservative  rule  seemed  on  the  surface  to  be 
solving  itself. 

In  November  the  governor  transmitted  to  the  legislature 
the  proposed  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the  United  States 
constitution,  with  the  recommendation  that  it  be  not 
ratified.*     He  declared  that  it  would  tend  to  change  en- 

^N.  Y.  Tribune,  Sept.  3,  1866. 

*N.  Y.  Herald,  Sept.  4,  1866;  N.  Y.  Times,  Sept.  5,  1866.  O.  B. 
Hart  was  one  of  the  vice-presidents.  Fraser  and  Robinson  occupied 
committee  positions. 

•  N.  Y.  Times,  May  21,  1866. 

*An.  Cyclo.,  1866. 


436  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

tirely  by  undue  consolidation  the  character  of  the  national 
government.^ 

This  measure  combined  two  clearly  distinguishable  parts. 
I,  It  proposed  to  transfer  to  the  Federal  government  the 
guardianship  of  the  individual  citizen's  civil  rights  and  thus 
to  place  the  Civil  Rights  Act,  passed  in  March,  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  Federal  Courts.  The  real  object  was  to  take 
out  of  the  hands  of  Southern  electors  the  power  to  decide 
what  were  or  were  not  the  civil  rights  of  the  black  as  a  free 
man.  2,  It  sought  to  base  representation  in  the  national 
Congress  not  upon  population  per  se,  but  upon  voting  popu- 
lation. 

"  The  number  of  representatives  due  to  a  state  is  ex- 
pressly made  to  depend  [in  the  Constitution]  on  its  popula- 
tion," stated  Governor  Walker,  "  while  it  is  expressly  re- 
mitted to  the  state's  own  discretion  to  say  who  among  its 
citizens  shall  constitute  the  voters  and  electors."  He  would 
have  representation  remain  "  as  our  fathers  fixed  it,  on  the 
census  and  not  the  suffrage."  Taking  up  the  section  of  the 
proposed  amendment  which  would  disfranchise  all  who 
"  engaged  in  rebellion  "  after  having  taken  the  oath  to 
support  the  .Constitution  of  the  United  States,  he  de- 
clared it  unjust  because  it  sought  to  punish  a  certain  class 
of  citizens  not  more  guilty  than  others.  "  Look  around  you 
and  see  how  many  persons  will  be  left  in  office  after  this 
amendment  is  adopted,"  he  said.  "  Most  of  the  persons 
thus  to  be  punished  have  already  been  pardoned  by  the 
President.  I  hold  that  no  power  on  earth  can  justly  go 
behind  the  President's  pardon."  ' 

The  governor  with  pardonable   fatuity  would  not  ac- 

'  For  opinions  of  conservative  Florida  press  on  proposed  Amend- 
ment, consistently  condemnatory,  see  Lake  City  Press,  Oct.  13,  1866; 
Tallahassee  Floridian,  Oct.  15,  1866;  Jacksonville  Union,  Oct.  13,  1866. 

•  Message  in  N.  Y.  Times,  Nov.  22,  1866. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONSERVATIVE  RULE  ^^y 

knowledge  that  the  nation  was  no  longer  moving  "  as  our 
fathers  fixed  it ".  Congress  was  vindictively  engaged  in 
being  progressive  by  following  out  policies  springing  from 
a  revolution  in  American  constitutional  ideas.  The  pro- 
posed amendment  was  a  political  measure  meant  not  only 
to  protect  the  black  but  also  to  help  clinch  negro  suffrage 
upon  the  South,  to  suppress  the  natural  leaders  of  the 
Southern  people,  and  thus  to  strengthen  the  grip  of  the 
national  Union-Republican  machine. 

The  senate  and  house  committees  concurred  in  the  gov- 
ernor's recommendation,  and  both  upper  and  lower  cham- 
bers by  unanimous  vote  refused  to  pass  the  bill  ^ — Decem- 
ber 1st  and  3rd,  1866. 

"  We  are  willing  to  make  any  organic  changes  of  a  thor- 
oughly general  character  and  which  do  not  totally  destroy 
the  nature  of  the  Government,"  stated  the  assembly  in  re- 
fusing to  ratify  the  proposed  amendment. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  will  bear  any  ill  before  we  will  pro- 
nounce our  own  dishonor.  We  will  be  taxed  without  repre- 
sentation ;  we  will  quietly  endure  the  government  of  the  bay- 
onet; we  will  see  and  submit  to  the  threatened  fire  and  sword 
and  destruction,  but  we  will  not  bring  as  a  peace  offering  the 
conclusive  evidence  of  our  own  self-created  degradation.^ 

Winter  came  upon  the  land,  with  its  somber  color  and 
sad  change.  Men  discussed  politics  and  eagerly  speculated 
on  the  result  of  the  contest  at  Washington  between  Execu- 
tive and  Congress.  The  time  had  nearly  arrived  when  the 
experience  of  a  worse  reconstruction  was  to  begin  for  the 
unfortunate  commonwealths  of  the  South. 

>  Floridian,  Jan.  25,  1867.    Flack,  Adoption  of  the  Fourteenth  Amend- 
ment, pp.  193-4. 
*An.  Cyclo.,  1866. 


CHAPTER  XVII  i 

The  Beginning  of  Radical  Reconstruction 

The  swift  and  passionate  rejection  of  the  proposed  Four- 
teenth Amendment  by  Southern  legislatures  irritated  the 
North  and  strengthened  the  Radicals  in  Congress.  Yet  it 
is  extremely  doubtful  if  this  rejection  had  decisive  effect 
upon  the  political  destinies  of  Florida  or  any  other  South- 
em  state,  for  the  reorganized  Southern  governments  were 
already  condemned  by  powerful  politicians  in  the  domi- 
nant national  party  ere  this  new  evidence  of  Southern  way- 
wardness was  manifested.  Furthermore,  the  rejection  of 
the  proposed  amendment  did  not  cause  Union-Republicans 
North  to  desire  negro  enfranchisement  South  and  the  elimi- 
nation of  the  old  native  white  leaders  South.  They  de- 
sired these  things  before  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  was 
voted  down.  In  fact  the  amendment  was  proposed  in  order 
that  these  twin  desires  might  be  attained.  Any  other  inter- 
pretation of  the  situation  in  light  of  present  knowledge  is 
fantastic.  ^  J^\ 

Radical  reconstruction  was  inevitable  after  the  springs 
of  1866 — probably  inevitable  from  the  hour  Lincoln  passed 
away.  Andrew  Johnson  succeeded  to  the  place  and  policy 
of  Lincoln  but  not  to  that  leader's  popularity  or  power. 
The  record  of  national  politics  during  1866  clearly  "indi- 
cated that  on  the  Southern  question — whichTwas^he  burn- 
ing  question  then  confronting  the  nation — the  new  Presi- 
dent had  no  influence  over  Congress,  except  possibly  a  bad 
influence.  In  the  legislative  branch  of  the  national  go vern- 
438 


BEGINNING  OF  RADICAL  RECONSTRUCTION       439 

ment  a  hostile  majority  was  sufficiently  strong  ere  the 
summer  of  1866  to  override  constitutionally  the  opposition 
or  restraint  which  the  Executive  attempted  by  veto;  and 
this  majority  was  well  organized  in  both  the  Senate  and  the 
House.  It  was  aggressively  hostile  toward  Mr.  Johnson 
personally,  and  toward  his  recoinstruction  policy  South  it 
was  positively  vindictive.  Under  the  leadership  of  such  men 
as  Thaddeus  Stevens  in  the  House  and  Charles  Sumner 
in  the  Senate,  the  faction  of  the  Union-Republican  party 
opposed  to  the  President  was  committed  to  a  plan  of  recon- 
struction drastically  different  from  the  executive  plan  in- 
herited from  Lincoln  and  then  in  process  of  operation. 

For  more  than  a  year  the  nation  had  been  at  peace ;  and 
yet  the  one-time  Confederate  states,  with  the  exception  of 
Tennessee,  were  still  out  of  the  Union  as  far  as  participa- 
tion in  the  general  government  was  concerned.  Congress 
would  keep  them  out  till  it  worked  its  will.  "  Our  present 
relations  with  the  general  government  are  certainly  of  a 
strange  character,"  declared  the  lower  house  of  the  Flor- 
ida legislature  in  commenting  on  the  situation. 

We  are  denied  representation  even  when  we  elect  a  man  who 
has  never  in  fact  sympathized  with  armed  resistance  to  the 
United  States,  and  who  can  in  good  faith  take  the  oath.  We 
are  at  the  same  time  subject  to  the  most  onerous  taxation ; 
the  civil  law  of  the  State  is  enforced  and  obeyed  only  when  it 
meets  the  approval  of  the  local  commanders  of  the  troops  of 
the  United  States;  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  enacts 
laws  making  certain  lands  subject  to  entry  at  a  small  cost  by 
the  colored  portion  of  our  population  and  denies  the  like  privi- 
lege to  the  white  man  by  restrictions  amounting  to  a  prohibi- 
tion. We  are,  in  fact,  recognized  as  a  State  for  the  single 
and  sole  purpose  of  working  out  our  destruction  and  dis- 
honor.^ 

'  An.  Cyclo.,  1866. 


440 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


However  much  the  critic  might  condemn  the  pitiless  and 
unscrupulous  political  warfare  which  the  Radical  party 
began  to  carry  on  in  1866  against  the  whites  of  the  South- 
ern states,  he  must  acknowledge  the  positive  strength,  the 
acuteness,  the  sureness  with  which  the  leaders  of  Recon- 
struction Radicalism  carried  forward  their  policy,  step  by 
step,  disregarding  and  adding  to  the  written  constitution, 
disregarding  precedent,  disregarding  often  honesty,  and  or- 
dinary decency  in  political  practice.  If  oneness  of  aim  is 
a  good  thing  in  itself,  then  there  is  much  good  even  from  a 
hostile  viewpoint  in  the  Reconstruction  record  of  Congress. 
It  was  positive  and  consistent  in  at  least  one  important 
respect — in  adhering  to  the  principle  that  practically  the 
end  justified  the  means.  The  end  was  the  capture  of  the 
South  for  the  Radical  party.  The  Conservatives  there 
were  suspected  of  being  disloyal. 

On  December  13th,  1865,  the  Federal  Senate  and 
House  concurred  in  appointing  a  "  joint  committee  to 
inquire  into  the  condition  of  the  states  which  formed 
the  so-called  Confederate  States."  ^  This  action  laid  the 
foundation  for  that  Congressional  program  which  cul- 
minated in  the  Reconstruction  laws  of  1867.  The  main 
committee  was  divided  into  sub-committees  for  the  purpose 
of  more  expeditiously  obtaining  information.  Senator 
Williams,  of  Oregon,  and  Representatives  Washburne,  of 
Illinois,  and  Rogers,  of  New  Jersey,  collected  evidence 
bearing  on  political  conditions  and  popular  sentiment  in 
Florida,  Louisiana,  and  Texas.  Only  three  persons  from 
Florida  testified  before  the  "  Reconstruction  Committee  ". 
They  were  J.  W.  Recks,  collector  of  customs  at  Pensacola 
— lately  from  the  North ;  Wm.  H.  Marvin,  provisional  gov- 
ernor of  Florida;  and  the  Reverend  L.   M.  Hobbs,  state 

1  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  30,  pt.  4,  p.  i. 


BEGINNING  OF  RADICAL  RECONSTRUCTION 


441 


superintendent  of  Freedmen  schools  and  one-time  chaplain 
in  the  Union  army.  Marvin's  testimony  was  so  sane  and  so 
fair  to  the  white  people  of  Florida  that  he  was  allowed  to 
depart  without  finishing  what  he  had  to  say.  Recks  and 
Hobbs  were  examined  at  length.  They  had  evil  things  to 
say  about  their  neighbors. 

"  What  do  you  find  to  be  the  present  temper  and  spirit 
of  the  people  of  Florida  to  the  general  government,"  was 
asked  of  Hobbs,  February  28th,  1866. 

Ans. :  "  It  is  bitter ;  much  more  so  now  than  it  was  three  or 
four  months  ago.  .  .  .  They  talk  treason  in  the  streets  without 
any  concealment," 

Ques. :  "  How  do  you  explain  this  change  that  has  taken 
place  in  their  feelings,  or  expressions  of  them?" 

Ans. :  "  I  consider  it  because  of  the  leniency  manifested  by 
the  present  administration ;  first,  in  extending  the  privilege  of 
amnesty,  and  second,  in  re-establishing  the  civil  government, 
throwing  the  affairs  of  the  State,  the  administration  of  the 
law,  in  the  hands  of  probate  and  circuit  judges,  leaving  the 
military  to  have  control  only  of  some  cases  where  capital  pun- 
ishment, or  some  punishment  of  that  kind,  can  be  inflicted; 
also  the  general  opposition  that  has  grown  up  within  the  last 
three  months  to  the  negro  having  civil  rights,  the  right  of 
suffrage,  etc."  ^ 

A  month  earlier,  January  22d,  1866,  Recks  had  given  his 
views  to  the  committee.  "  Have  you  noticed  any  change  in 
the  sentiments  and  feelings  of  the  people  since  you  com- 
menced to  reside  in  Florida  ?  "  he  was  asked. 

Ans. :  "  No  material  change  that  I  know  of  for  the  better. 
.  .  .  They  have  a  bitter  aversion  to  what  they  term  the 
Yankee — that  is,  a  Union  man ;  it  does  not  matter  whether  he 
comes  from  the  extreme  east  or  extreme  west,  if  he  is  true 

»  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  30,  pt.  4,  p.  8. 


442 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


to  his  adherence  to  the  national  government.  They  have 
treated  me  with  a  great  deal  of  courtesy,  but  at  the  same  time 
in  this  inherent  spirit." 

Ques. :  "  Were  you  there  at  the  time  that  the  Legislature 
were  elected?" 

Ans. :  "  Yes,  sir." 

Ques. :  "  State,  as  far  as  you  know  them,  what  side  they 
took  in  the  rebellion." 

Ans. :  "  They  were  rebels  during  the  war,  in  the  Confeder- 
ate service,  some  of  them,  I  think,  with  the  rank  of  Captain, 
and  at  heart  to-day  they  are  as  good  rebels  as  they  ever  were." 

Ques. :  "  Have  you  heard  the  question  of  negro  suffrage  dis- 
cussed there  among  the  people  ?" 

Ans. :  "  I  have.     They  perfectly  abhor  negro  suffrage." 

Ques. :  "  From  your  knowledge  and  observation  of  that 
country,  what  is  necessary  to  be  done  in  order  properly  and 
fairly  to  reconstruct  the  State  in  justice  to  the  State  and  the 
Union?" 

Ans. :  "  My  policy  may,  perhaps,  be  a  little  too  severe.  I 
would  pin  them  down  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  so  close  that 
they  would  not  have  room  to  wiggle  and  allow  intelligent 
colored  people  to  go  up  and  vote  in  preference  to  them."  ^ 

Radicals  in  Florida  wrote  many  letters  to  Radicals 
out  of  Florida  describing  atrocities  against  negroes 
and  Union  men  and  expressing  positive  judgment  on 
the  "  spirit "  of  their  Southern  neighbors.  Southern 
whites  who  refused  to  become  Radicals  were  accused 
of  being  disloyal  at  heart.  Charles  Sumner  was  the  eager 
recipient  of  such  epistles,  which  be  took  occasion  to 
give  wide  publicity.  The  commanders  of  Federal  troops 
stationed  throughout  the  South  watched  for  evidences  of 
disloyalty  and  through  the  regular  reports  became  an  in- 
formation bureau  for  Radical  leaders  in  Washington. 

1  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  30,  pt.  4,  pp.  1-5. 


BEGINNING  OF  RADICAL  RECONSTRUCTION        443 

Colonel  Sprague,  commanding  in  Jacksonville,  reported 
on  April  30th,  1866,  that  the  conduct  of  the  people  within 
his  jurisdiction  "  toward  the  general  government  is  pacific 
from  necessity  but  their  feelings  are  strong  and  revenge- 
ful ".^  The  following  day,  May  ist,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Flint,  post  commander  at  Tallahassee,  reported :  "  I  believe 
that  Union  citizens  cannot  freely  express  their  love  or  ad- 
miration for  our  country  or  government  and  approval  of 
the  policy  adopted  without  incurring  the  displeasure  and 
sometimes  the  actual  enmity  of  their  neighbors,  the  South- 
ern people."  ^  On  July  17th,  Lieutenant  Grossman,  post 
commander  at  Lake  City,  reported  that,  "  the  4th  of  July 
passed  without  the  slightest  attempt  on  the  part  of  citizens 
of  this  vicinity  to  celebrate  the  day,"  ^  while  on  August 
28th,  Flint  reported :  "  The  temper  of  the  people  remains 
as  previously  reported,  as  far  as  can  be  judged.  The  only 
report  received  since  the  15th  (that  from  Cedar  Keys)  ex- 
presses the  belief  that  the  people  in  that  vicinity  may  be  as 
disloyal  to  the  government  as  they  were  three  years  ago. 
This  may  be,  and  probably  is  true  of  a  considerable  class  of 
the  community  not  only  in  Cedar  Keys  but  throughout  the 
State."  *  On  September  20th,  Brigadier-General  Foster,  in 
command  of  the  entire  "District  of  Florida,"  reported: 
"  The  state  of  feeling  toward  the  government  and  Union 
and  Northern  men  has  not  improved  since  my  last  report 
and  there  have  been  indications  that  the  old,  bitter  feeling 
engendered  by  the  war  still  rankles  in  the  hearts  of  the  old 
secessionists,  and  that  it  will  find  vent  as  soon  as  a  favor- 
able opportunity  offers."  ^  Such  reports  and  opinions  as 
the  foregoing  came  thick  and  fast  from  every  Southern 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  56,  p.  91. 

» Ibid.,  p.  78.  •  Ibid.,  p.  84.  *  Ibid.,  p.  80. 

'  McPherson,  Reconstruction,  p.  308. 


444 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


State  during  1866.  As  a  rule,  verdicts  of  disloyalty  and 
treason  were  unsupported  by  the  citation  of  facts,  and  the 
facts  when  cited  have  the  peculiar  flavor  of  lies. 

The  whites  of  Florida  were  cognizant  of  the  adverse  re- 
ports concerning  them.  "  We  are  passing  through  our 
political  wilderness  and  are  being  bitten  by  fiery  serpents," 
declared  Governor  Walker  in  commenting  on  the  situa- 
tion.^ "  Let  us  constantly  remember,"  stated  he  in  an  ad- 
dress to  the  people,  April  27th,  1866, 

that  every  lawless  act  any  individual  in  our  State  may  commit 
and  every  indiscreet  expression  that  may  be  uttered  is  imme- 
diately exaggerated  and  published  broadcast  over  the  Northern 
States  with  a  view  of  making  it  appear  that  the  President  is 
wrong  and  his  enemies  are  right.  We  are  passing  through  a 
fearful  ordeal.  The  eyes  of  the  world  are  upon  us ;  therefore 
be  wise  as  serpents  and  harmless  as  doves.^ 

Before  the  end  of  1866  the  Conservative  leaders  in 
Florida  had  reason  to  be  uneasy  about  the  state's  future 
political  fortunes.  The  existing  government  stood  con- 
demned by  Congress,  and  the  President  was  unable  to  re- 
strain that  body  from  doing  with  Florida  as  it  saw  fit.  The 
Federal  Supreme  Court  was  hopefully  looked  up  to  in  the 
South  as  a  possible  means  for  checking  the  career  of  the 
national  legislature.  In  Florida,  hopes  were  publicly  ex- 
pressed that  the  court  would  somehow  intervene.  The  de- 
cisions in  the  Test  Oath  cases  were  hailed  with  satisfaction 
by  the  most  powerful  newspaper  in  the  state.^  The  effect 
of  these  decisions  in  theory  was  to  deny  the  constitution- 
ality of  Federal  legislation  which  would  deprive  those  one- 
time Confederate  citizens  who  had  returned  to  their  alle- 

^  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Fla.,  v.  i,  p.  300. 

»  An.  Cyclo.,  1866. 

•  Floridian,  Jan.  4,  25,  1867. 


BEGINNING  OF  RADICAL  RECONSTRUCTION       445 

giance  of  the  rights  enjoyed  by  all  citizens  of  the  United 
States.' 

When  the  full  and  developed  program  of  Radical  recon- 
struction was  taken  up  in  Congress  for  consideration — the 
"  Military  Bill  " — the  forebodings  of  Florida's  pessimists 
in  public  opinion  were  coming  perilously  near  realization. 
The  sure  tendency  of  Congressional  policy  for  a  year  was 
now  unmistakable.  "Does  it  mean  what  it  seems?"  ob- 
served the  Floridian.  "  It  is  absurd  to  believe  that  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  will  uphold  it."  ^  Experi- 
ence proved  that  fear  of  what  the  Supreme  Court  might  do 
exerted  no  appreciable  control  over  Congress.  Disregard- 
ing warnings  concerning  the  judiciary  and  contemptuously, 
defiantly  overriding  the  executive,  the  national  legislature 
with  brutal  directness  and  great  efficiency  proceeded  to 
draft  into  statute  law  the  ideas  of  its  leaders  concerning 
what  was  to  be  considered  legal  and  thorough  reconstruc- 
tion. 

The  Conservatives  of  Florida  with  sinking  hearts  and 
bitter  feeling  watched  the  passage  of  the  Military  Bill 
through  Congress.  "  Taking  the  measure  altogether  it  is 
about  as  bad  as  anything  could  be,"  observed  the  Floridian. 

Sherman's  Senate  Bill  was  bearable,  since  it  left  to  the  State 
the  option  of  acting  or  not ;  but  this  bill  is  not  simply  bearable, 
it  is  execrable.  It  embodies  the  vengeful  and  worst  passions 
of  the  worst  radicals  in  the  dominant  party.  .  .  .  What  we 
most  dread  is  the  influx  of  traveling  politicians  and  agitators 
whose  mission  will  be  to  stir  up  strife  between  the  races,  and 
thus  precipitate  collision  and  bloodshed.' 

1  The  cases  in  question  were :  Ex  Parte  Milligan,  Cummings  vs. 
Missouri,  and  Ex  Parte  Garland,  the  last  two  being  the  Test  Oath 
cases.  Wallace,  v.  4,  pp.  2,  277,  ZZZ-  For  criticism,  see  Dunning, 
Reconst.  Polit.  and  Ec,  p.  89. 

*  Floridian,  Jan.  15,  19,  1867. 

•  Ibid.,  Feb.  26,  1867. 


446  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

When  the  "  Military  Bill  "  passed  Congress  over  the 
President's  veto,  the  receipt  of  the  news  in  Florida  brought 
forth  this  observation  from  the  Floridian: 

We  are  placed  in  a  sort  of  purgatory,  neither  in  Heaven  nor 
Hell — a  kind  of  betweenity.  But  it  is  too  grave  a  matter  to 
jest  about.  It  is  ex  post  facto.  It  prescribes  penalties  for  an 
offense  not  known  when  the  offense  was  committed,  and  there- 
fore is  legislation  backward.  It  undertakes  to  make  operative 
the  provisions  of  a  constitutional  amendment  not  yet  adopted.^ 

The  Jacksonville  Union  announced :  "  It  would  be  in  our 
judgment  a  most  lamentable  matter  to  see  the  Southern 
States  yield  in  despairing  apathy  to  the  crisis  that  is  upon 
them.  Their  cause  is  the  cause  of  constitutional  govern- 
ment." ^  What  could  the  people  of  Florida  do  except 
yield?  They  had  no  means  to  effectively  oppose  Congres- 
sional reconstruction. 

The  first  Reconstruction  Act  or  "  Military  Bill  "  became 
law  on  March  2nd,  1867.  This  piece  of  legislation  reduced 
ten  Southern  states  to  military  appendages;  virtually  ab- 
rogated civil  government  there ;  declared  that  "  any  civil 
government  that  may  exist "  in  these  states  was  "  provi- 
sional only  " ;  grouped  the  ten  states  into  five  "  military  dis- 
tricts " ;  directed  the  President  to  appoint  an  army  officer 
not  lower  than  a  brigadier-general  to  command  each  dis- 
trict ;  directed  this  district  commander  "  to  protect  all  per- 
sons in  their  rights  of  person  and  property,  to  suppress  in- 
surrection, disorder,  and  violence  " ;  provided  for  vigorous, 
effective,  and  arbitrary  rule  through  "  military  commis- 
sion " ;  and  set  forth  the  terms  upon  which  Congress  would 
consider  the  admission  of  such  a  state  to  a  share  once  more 

*  Quotation  from  Floridian  in  N.  Y.  World,  Mch.  6,  1867. 
»  AT.  Y.  World,  Mch.  6,  1867. 


BEGINNING  OF  RADICAL  RECONSTRUCTION       447 

in  the  national  government  when  in  the  future  the  people 
of  the  state  should  see  fit  to  comply  with  the  will  of  Con- 
gress. These  terms  were  in  brief:  i,  a  state  constitution 
extending  the  suffrage  to  all  males  twenty-one  years  old 
and  upward,  irrespective  of  race,  color,  or  previous  con- 
dition; 2,  the  ratification  of  the  14th  Amendment  by  the 
legislature  elected  under  this  constitution.  The  law  ex- 
pressly excluded  most  Southern  leaders  from  taking  any 
part  whatever,  either  as  voter  or  delegate,  in  framing  and 
adopting  the  constitution.^ 

On  March  23rd,  the  Supplemental  Reconstruction  Law 
was  enacted,  providing  ways  and  means  for  carrying  into 
effect  the  first  statute;  namely,  the  division  of  the  states  into 
registration  districts,  the  registering  of  voters,  the  manner 
of  holding  the  elections  for  the  constitutional  conventions, 
the  manner  of  voting  on  the  constitutions  framed,  and  the 
transmission  of  the  instruments  to  Congress.^  These  two 
laws  laid  the  foundation  certainly  for  ruthless  political  re- 
construction. That  was  their  object,  and  the  object  was 
to  be  attained. 

The  people  of  Florida  took  the  revolution  calmly.  Led 
by  wise  counsel  they  accepted  the  inevitable  with  good 
grace.  "Take  it  calmly,"  advised  the  Tallahassee  Sentinel. 
"  The  memories  of  the  past  and  the  hopes  of  the  future 
counsel  a  self-possessed,  dignified,  quiet  acquiescence  in  the 
measure  adopted  for  our  humiliation  and  punishment."  ' 
The  Quincy  Commonwealth:  "  Plenty  of  time  for  action 
by  the  Southern  people."  *  The  Floridian:  "  It  is  not  to  be 
decided  on  the  impulse  of  sentiment  or  the  suggestion  of 

*  See  text  of  act,  McPherson,  Reconstruction,  pp.  191-2. 

*  Text  of  act,  ibid.,  pp.  192-4. 

»  Quotation  in  N.  Y.  World,  Mch.  15,  1867. 

*  Quincy  Commonwealth,  Mch.  8,  1867. 


448  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

selfishness  but  it  is  to  be  met  as  one  of  the  gravest  issues  that 
has  been  submitted  to  a  people  who  are  brave  and  have 
been  free.  We  shall  wait  a  few  days  until  we  ascertain 
how  he  [the  President]  construes  the  powers  with  which 
it  [the  Reconstruction  Law]  invests  him."  ^ 

The  most  disturbing  factor  in  the  uncertain  future  for  the 
mass  of  whites  in  Florida  was  the  impending  fact  of  negro 
enfranchisement.  Were  the  state  government  and  the  local 
governments  to  be  delivered  to  the  negro,  backed  as  he  was 
by  the  power  of  the  United  States?  That  was  really  the 
question  then  before  the  practical  politician.  The  opinion 
of  the  Floridian  was  that  there  should  be  no  apprehension 
if  the  Southern  white  began  in  time  to  assume  the  political 
leadership  of  the  black.  "  The  whites  constitute  the  class 
from  which  the  freedmen  get  their  living.  By  acting  with 
promptness  and  common-sense  every  freedmen  can  be  made 
to  vote  the  Conservative  ticket."  ^ 

Within  a  month  after  the  enactment  of  the  second  Re- 
construction Law  the  prospective  policy  of  Conservatives  in 
Florida  seemed  clearly  marked  out.  It  contained  two  ob- 
vious principles,  namely,  the  ready  acquiescence  in  Con- 
gressional reconstruction,  and  the  control  of  the  negro 
voter  by  Conservative  Southern  whites.  Ex-Senator  Mal- 
lory,  in  a  speech  delivered  in  Pensacola  (March  28th), 
strongly  advised  prompt  submission  to  Congress  in  good 
faith.^  United  States  Senator-elect  Call,  still  in  Washing- 
ton waiting  to  be  admitted  to  the  Senate,  wrote : 

In  my  opinion  we  should  submit  without  oppKDsition  to  Con- 
gress and  conform  to  its  requirements.  No  practical  benefits 
can  be  gained  by  resistance.  .  .  .  This  Congress  represents  the 

»  N.  Y.  World,  Mch.  15,  1867.    . 

*  Floridian,  Mch.  29,  1867. 

»  Floridian,  Apr.  9,  1867 ;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  8,  1867. 


BEGINNING  OF  RADICAL  RECONSTRUCTION 


449 


strength  and  will  of  the  Northern  people.  .  .  .  We  should 
realize  that  these  are  questions  that  concern  us  no  longer,  as 
over  them  we  have  no  control.  ...  In  my  judgment,  the  only 
thing  to  consider  is  whether  we  will  be  dragged  by  the  chains 
of  relentless  destiny  or  whether  we  will  be  co-workers  with  it 
in  forming  and  giving  direction  to  its  policy.^ 

William  Archer  Cooke,  writing  from  Monticello  (Jeffer- 
son County),  declared  that  "it  is  absurd  to  look  to  the 
Supreme  Court  for  redress."  The  negro,  he  said,  should 
be  led  by  the  Southern  whites.^  Ex-Governor  Marvin  ex- 
tended like  advice  in  an  "  Address  to  the  People  of  Flor- 
ida." He  prophesied  that  the  efforts  of  Mississippi  to  get 
redress  from  the  Federal  Supreme  Court  would  prove  un- 
successful. Radical  leaders  were  powerful  and  popular 
in  the  North.  Any  action  of  the  Supreme  Court,  he 
thought,  would  not  control  Congress.  His  advice  to  the 
whites  of  Florida  was  to  give  up  all  idea  of  combatting 
Congress,  to  organize,  to  obey  cheerfully  and  quickly 
Federal  law,  and  to  make  ready  to  lead  the  enfranchised 
negro.  ^ 

Such  was  the  tenor  of  advice  extended  to  the  people  by 
their  best  leaders  in  this  crisis  when  their  government  was 
destroyed  at  the  hands  of  Congress,  when  the  lately  en- 
slaved were  given  equal  political  privilege  with  the  late 
masters,  when  the  natural  leaders  of  the  people  were  dis- 

*  Floridian,  Apr.  12,  1867.  *  Floridian,  Apr.  23,  1867. 

•  Floridian,  May  17,  1867.  See  also  Marvin's  views  in  issues  for 
May  10  and  Sept.  17.  The  latter  contains  a  letter  from  the  ex- 
governor  to  Dyke,  editor  of  the  Floridian.  Marvin  was  then  living 
in  New  York.  His  clear  foresight  is  shown  by  this  letter.  He  said 
that  eventually  it  would  be  very  bad  for  the  blacks  if  they  should 
combine  politically  as  a  race  and  form  a  party  on  the  basis  of  color. 
They  might  carry  the  coming  elections,  he  said,  but  in  the  end  they 
would  surely  lose  out,  after  antagonizing  the  whites  not  only  in 
Florida  but  in  the  North  as  well.  The  truth  of  these  views  is  obvious 
to-day. 


450 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


franchisee!.  Congress  succeeded  in  putting  the  "  Bottom 
rail  on  top".  And  why?  The  preamble  of  the  first  Re- 
construction Act  set  forth  the  alleged  reason.  "  Whereas 
no  legal  state  governments  or  adequate  protection  for  life 
or  property  now  exists  in  the  rebel  states,"  it  runs,  "  and 
whereas  it  is  necessary  that  peace  and  good  order  should  be 
enforced  in  said  states  until  loyal  and  republican  state  gov- 
ernments can  be  legally  established,"  etc. 

Did  conditions  in  Florida  make  it  necessary  that  the 
state  be  subjected  to  the  operations  of  such  a  drastic  law? 
Certainly  the  year  1866  witnessed  the  sure  beginning  of  a 
rapid  and  generally  peaceful  rehabilitation.  The  amount 
of  lawlessness  in  Florida  then  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
abnormal  or  particularly  serious.  Three  factors  indicate 
peace  and  returning  prosperity:  i,  heavy  immigration  of 
poor  home-seekers  into  Florida;  2,  the  presence  of  numer- 
ous business  men  from  other  sections  of  the  country  who 
came  into  Florida  and  invested  money  there;  3,  the  favor- 
able reports  of  military  commanders  distributed  over 
Florida.  These  reports  though  damning  the  lack  of  patriot- 
ism among  the  whites  usually  closed  with  the  statement  that 
peace  reigned  and  that  the  people  were  quietly  at  work. 
Would  these  conditions  have  existed  then  if  in  Florida  there 
had  been  no  "  adequate  protection  for  life  or  property?" 

As  to  immigration,  both  whites  and  blacks  began  to  come 
into  Florida  during  1866.  The  black  immigrants  were 
more  numerous  than  the  whites.  The  East  Florida  Banner 
of  January  2nd,  1867,  stated:  "A  thousand  freedmen  have 
passed  through  this  city  during  the  past  week  on  their  way 
to  Florida  and  the  west."  The  Floridian  of  January  nth: 
"  The  tide  of  immigration  is  unprecedented.  .  .  .  Nearly 
every  day  brings  trains  and  wagons  through  our  town 
[Tallahassee]  from  South  Carolina  .  .  .  Two  train-loads  .  .  . 
from   Southern   and  Western   Georgia."     The  Columbia 


BEGINNING  OF  RADICAL  RECONSTRUCTION       451 

(S.  C.)  Telegraph  of  January  13th:  "  Freedmen  are  leav- 
ing this  city  in  such  numbers  as  to  excite  alarm.  They  are 
chiefly  bound  for  Florida."  The  Orangeburg  (S.  C.) 
Times:  "  Many  freedmen  are  seeking  new  homes  in  Florida 
and  elsewhere."  The  New  York  Times,  February  28th 
(report  from  Charleston,  S.  C.)  :  "  Great  exodus  of  freed- 
men. .  .  .  50,000  souls  have  left  the  State.  .  .  .  Some  of 
the  emigrants  have  gone  to  Florida."  The  report  of  Col- 
onel Sprague  at  Jacksonville  in  New  York  Tribune,  Febru- 
ary 20th :  "  Freedmen  are  still  arriving  from  South  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia  seeking  labor  and  many  entering  land 
under  the  Homestead  Bill."  The  Federal  law  of  June  21st, 
1866  opened  for  entry  in  80-acre  lots  all  national  lands  in 
Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  and  Florida. 
By  October  of  the  following  year  2,012  homestead  claims 
aggregating  more  than  160,000  acres  had  been  entered  in 
the  Florida  Federal  land  offices.  The  "  House  Committee 
on  Freedmen 's  Affairs  "  reported  that  during  this  time 
more  than  2,000  families  acquired  "  homes  in  Florida " 
and  that  "  in  other  Southern  states  less  progress  has  been 
made  ".^  The  comparison  of  census  figures  indicates  heavy 
increase  of  negro  population  between  1860-67.  The  Fed- 
eral census  of  i860  gave  the  black  population  62,677.  The 
special  state  census  of  1867  showed  72,666,  an  increase  of 
sixteen  per  cent  in  seven  years. 

Immigrant  aid  societies  helped  whites  and  blacks  to 
move  to  Florida.  The  American  Aid  and  Homestead  Co. 
of  New  York  furthered  in  some  fashion  an  extensive 
scheme  of  two  Northern  business  men,  Hunt  and  Gleason. 
They  sought  to  establish  a  colony  in  Florida  for  the  culti- 

•  H.  Repts.,  40th  C,  2nd.  S.,  no.  30,  p.  16. 

For  further  infcrmaticn  concerning  negroes  on  Federal  lands,  see 
H.  Ex.  Docs.,  3gth  C,  ist  S.,  no.  70,  passim;  40th  C,  2nd,  S.,  no.  57, 
pa.^sim. 


452  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

vation  of  tropical  fruits.^  Gleason  later  became  lieutenant- 
governor  of  the  state.  In  June,  1866,  he  reported:  "We 
have  traveled  upwards  of  1,500  miles  in  the  most  unsettled 
portions  of  the  State.  .  .  .  We  were  everywhere  hospitably 
received.  .  .  .  An  emigration  from  the  North  would  be 
welcomed  by  a  large  majority  of  the  people."  ^ 

A  few  planters  of  Florida  imported  negro  labor  from 
neighboring  states  and  gave  their  support  to  plans  for  bring- 
ing in  white  labor  from  Europe.'  "  Florida  does  not  want 
black  but  white  immigrants,"  announced  a  local  journal 
early  in  1867. 

Bread  does  not  grow  on  trees.  We  want  our  unoccupied  lands 
taken  up  and  developed  by  those  who  will  cling  to  them,  and 
not  by  those  who  will  labor  for  a  little  while  and  then  become 
paupers,  vagabonds  and  thieves,  living  upon  the  industry  of 
others,  to  be  hunted  like  untamed  savages.  In  the  county  in 
which  we  write  [Leon,  the  most  populous  in  Florida]  there  is 
comparatively  a  scarcity  of  labor.  Why?  Not  because  there 
is  not  labor  enough,  but  because  hundreds  will  not  work.  The 
idlers  squat  about  the  piney  woods,  in  the  towns,  and  by  the 
roadside,  and  it  is  no  injustice  to  say  that  the  great  majority 
of  them  live  by  killing  stock  and  general  thieving.* 

There  was  plenty  of  work  at  good  wages  in  Florida,^ 
business  was  reviving,  and  the   freedmen  labor  was  not 

*  Floridian,  Jan.  11,  1867;  N.  Y.  Times,  June  25,  1866. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  June  25,  1866. 

*  Jefferson  Gazette,  Aug.  31,  1866,  —  organization  "  Jefferson  Aid 
Assn."  to  assist  immigration.  Floridian,  Jan.  4,  Feb.  12,  15,  May  10, 
1867, — organization  and  activity  of  "  So.  Land  and  Immigration  Co." 
Laws  of  Florida,  14th  Assembly,  passim^ 

*  Floridian,  Feb.  i,  1867. 

'  Rpt.  Agr.  Dept.,  1^7-7,  p.  84.  Wages  in  Fla.  were  considerably 
higher  than  in  any  other  Southern  state  east  of  the  Miss.,  the  average 
wage  for  Fla.  being  twelve  per  cent  above  the  average  for  the  South. 


BEGINNING  OF  RADICAL  RECONSTRUCTION 


453 


meeting  the  demand.  "  I  think  they  [whites]  would  be 
pleased,"  stated  one  man,  "  to  have  them  [negroes]  out  of 
the  way  and  to  have  Chinamen  coolies,  or  anybody  else  to 
do  the  work."  ' 

In  April,  1866,  Colonel  Sprag^e  reported  from  Jackson- 
ville :  "  The  general  condition  of  the  country  coming  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  this  post  is  prosperous.  The  freedmen 
are  working  faithfully  and  industriously.  There  is  a  large 
class  from  the  North  who  are  seeking  investments  in  lands 
and  sawmills.  The  citizens  belonging  to  the  city  are  labor- 
ing to  obtain  a  living  and  to  collect  what  little  remains  of 
their  property  after  a  desolating  war."  ^  In  June,  Captain 
Smith,  posted  at  Mellonville,  reported :  "  Everything  works 
harmoniously."  * 

The  year  1866  witnessed  the  revival  in  railroad  exten- 
sion interrupted  by  the  war.  The  existing  roads  were  in 
too  poor  a  physical  condition  to  handle  the  revival  in  traffic. 
The  war  had  bankrupted  all  of  the  companies.  Along  with 
plans  for  reorganization  in  face  of  defaulted  payment  on 
bonds  went  plans  for  re-equipping  the  roads  and  extending 
them.  "  The  railroad  is  the  grand  thing  just  ahead,"  stated 
a  letter  from  Pensacola.  "  An  outsider  hearing  so  much 
indistinct  talk  about  it  might  suppose  it  an  accomplished 
fact."  *  At  Marianna  in  West  Florida  a  number  of  busi- 
ness men  of  that  section  met  during  February,  1867,  to  dis- 
cuss the  projects  of  extending  the  railway  from  Quincy  to 
the  Apalachicola  river  and  of  building  a  road  from  St.  An- 
drews bay  north  into  Georgia.^      Similar  meetings  took 

1  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  30,  pt.  4,  p.  4. 
'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  56,  p.  91. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  90. 

*  N.  Y.  Ev.  Post  (Townsend  lib.,  V.  71,  p.  338)  Pensacola  letter. 

*  Floridian,  Feb.  22,  1867. 


454  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

place  in  other  parts  of  Florida.  Such  incidents  are  worthy 
of  a  place  in  an  account  of  reconstruction  because  they  in 
connection  with  increasing  demand  for  labor,  increasing 
immigration,  and  increasing  land  entries  by  home-seekers 
indicate  that  peaceful  economic  rehabilitation  had  begun 
before  the  Federal  Congress  turned  government  topsy- 
turvy in  order  that  there  might  be  "  adequate  protection  " 
for  life  and  property  in  Florida. 

The  first  Reconstruction  Act  was  promulgated  by  the 
war  department  through  general  orders  on  March  nth, 
and  on  the  28th  the  Supplemental  Act  was  promulgated  in 
similar  fashion.^  The  first  act  provided  for  the  division 
of  the  South  into  five  military  districts.  Florida  was 
included  in  the  "  Third  District  ",  composed  of  Georgia, 
Alabama,  and  Florida.  This  division,  as  set  forth  in 
the  law,  was  formally  consummated  through  Execu- 
tive order  of  March  2nd.^  On  March  15th,  the  Presi- 
dent placed  Major-General  John  Pope  in  command  of  the 
Third  District.^  On  April  ist,  Pope  began  his  administra- 
tion in  Florida  through  General  Orders  No.  i,  in  which  he 
"  merged  the  District  of  Key  West "  into  the  "  District  of 
Florida  "  and  placed  Colonel  J.  T.  Sprague  of  the  7th  In- 
fantry in  command.  The  headquarters  of  the  District  of 
Florida  (a  sub-district  of  the  third  Military  District)  were 
established  at  Tallahassee.* 

"  The  civil  officers  at  present  will  retain  their  offices  until 
the  expiration  of  their  terms  of  service,"  announced  Gen- 
eral Orders  of  April  ist,  which  inaugurated  military  rule, 

so  long  as  justice  is  impartially  and  faithfully  administered.  It 
is  hoped  that  no  necessity  may  arise  for  the  interposition  of 
the  military  authorities  in  the  civil  administration,  and  such 

*  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  14. 

«  Ibid.,  p.  5.  »  Ibid.,  p.  5.  *  Ibid.,  p.  9.3. 


BEGINNING  OF  RADICAL  RECONSTRUCTION 


455 


necessity  can  only  arise  from  the  failure  of  the  civil  tribunals 
to  protect  the  people,  without  distinction,  in  their  rights  of  per- 
son and  property. 

The  real  object  in  instituting  this  military  regime  was  in- 
dicated by  that  clause  of  these  general  orders  that  declared : 
"  It  is  clearly  understood,  however,  that  the  civil  officers 
thus  retained  in  office  shall  confine  themselves  to  the  per- 
formance of  their  official  duties  and  whilst  holding  these 
offices  they  shall  not  use  any  influence  whatever  to  deter  or 
dissuade  the  people  from  taking  an  active  part  in  recon- 
structing their  state  government." 

As  Florida  had  never  thoroughly  passed  from  under  the 
guiding  hand  of  the  Federal  military  since  the  war's  close, 
the  transposition  to  military  rule  in  the  spring  of  1867  did 
not  cause  much  confusion  or  excitement.  "  In  Florida 
everything  is  quiet,"  reported  General  Pope  on  April  7th.^ 
But  indications  of  a  pretty  thorough-going  political  change 
were  soon  evident.  The  negroes  of  Florida  under  Radical 
white  leaders  immediately  began  to  experiment  in  politics. 
On  March  14th,  more  than  a  week  before  the  passage  of 
the  Supplemental  Bill  in  Washington  and  before  Congres- 
sional reconstruction  was  formally  inaugurated  in  Florida, 
some  negroes  of  Jacksonville  met  in  the  negro  Baptist 
Church,  chose  a  ticket  for  the  city  elections,  and  adopted 
resolutions  which  began :  "  Resolved,  That  we  have  become 
bona-fide  citizens  of  Florida  and  of  the  United  States,  that 
there  is  now  no  distinction  between  the  white  man  and  the 
black  man  in  political  matters,"  etc.^ 

*  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  14,  p.  95. 

'  F'.oridian.  Apr.  1,  1867.  The  election  did  not  take  place  when 
scheduled.  It  was  postponed  by  military  order, — see  Floridian,  Apr. 
2,  9,  1867.  In  May  the  "  City  Council "  chose  a  new  mayor  on  the 
"  advice "  of  Col.  Sprague.  Negroes  did  not  take  part  in  this, — 
Floridian,  May  21,  1867. 


456  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

In  another  part  of  the  state,  Pensacola,  negroes  partici- 
pated in  the  city  elections,  April  ist.  Three  days  before, 
March  28th,  a  mass  meeting  of  blacks  and  whites  had  taken 
place  in  Pensacola's  plaza. ^  Ex-Senator  Mallory,  J.  D.  Wolf 
— an  ex-officer  of  the  Federal  army — and  Hayes  Satterlee — 
an  aged  negro — had  addressed  the  meeting.  Here  were 
grouped  skillfully  three  of  the  fairly  distinct  social  elements 
in  Reconstruction  politics:  the  ex-Confederate,  the  white 
newcomer  from  the  North,  and  the  negro.  All  the  speakers 
advised  amicable  co-operation  between  the  races,  and  ad- 
vised the  blacks  not  to  break  with  the  Southern  whites. 

But  other  influences  were  at  work.  Negroes  were  called 
together  in  secret  meetings  by  Radical  white  leaders.  The 
report  was  spread  that  if  the  Republican  candidate  won,  the 
stores  in  town  would  be  thrown  open  and  all  loyal  men  in 
town  would  be  invited  to  take  what  they  wished.  This  was 
a  tempting  prospect  to  any  man.  To  most  of  the  negroes 
it  was  exciting.  Those  near  Pensacola  hearing  the  good 
news  came  into  town  to  be  present  when  the  free  distribu- 
tion should  take  place.  The  Conservative  ticket  carried  the 
election.  Thereupon  a  mob  of  negroes,  massed  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  town  plaza,  threatened  disturbance. 
Federal  troops  were  hurried  from  Fort  Barrancas  to  keep 
order.^  This  was  a  good  beginning  for  Conservatives,  but 
it  was  a  dangerous  beginning  and  proved  to  be  about  the 
first  and  last  Conservative  victory  under  military  rule. 

These  initial  political  experiences  were  sufficient  to  show 
some  men  the  difficulty  which  confronted  those  who  would 
essay  to  make  Conservatives  of  the  blacks.  Before  taking 
up  the  progress  of  the  campaign  another  political  incident 

*  Pensacola  Observer,  Mch.,  30,  1867 ;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  8,  1867. 

^  Floridian,  Apr.  9,  1867;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Apr.  17,  1867;  conversation 
of  the  author  with  Mr.  Edward  Anderson  of  Pensacola,  who  was  a 
Conservative  leader. 


BEGINNING  OF  RADICAL  RECONSTRUCTION       457 

typical  of  these  times  might  be  mentioned.  It  was  May 
20th,  "  Emancipation  Day  "  for  Florida,  the  day  on  which 
General  McCook  in  1863  had  issued  general  orders  an- 
nouncing freedom.  At  Tallahassee  since  an  early  hour 
flocks  of  negroes  had  been  coming  into  town.  By  nine 
o'clock  the  streets  were  crowded.  Soon  a  procession  of 
blacks  formed  at  the  camp  of  the  Federal  troops,  and  with 
music  booming  and  flags  flying  at  its  head  the  assembled 
host  began  its  march  down  "  Main  Street  ".  First  came 
the  "  Benevolent  Societies  ",  then  came  the  "  Independent 
Blues  ",  and  following,  the  unofficial  crowd  in  long  line. 
The  managers  of  the  parade  wished  only  men  in  line  but 
were  unable  to  keep  the  women  out.  "  The  sisters  would 
crowd  in." 

About  eleven  o'clock  the  procession  arrived  at  Bull  Pond, 
a  mile  out  of  Tallahassee.  A  negro  preacher  rose  "to  open 
the  meeting  with  prayer  ".  Political  resolutions  were  of- 
fered at  the  end  of  the  prayer  by  a  sergeant  of  the  Federal 
army.  They  were  declared  adopted  by  "  the  committee  " 
without  submitting  them  to  the  meeting.  Many  of  the 
open-mouthed,  thick-lipped  auditors  had  no  conception 
what  resolutions  were. 

The  first  speaker  of  the  day  arose,  James  Taylor,  negro. 
He  was  a  fair  specimen  of  his  class.  His  spirit  seemed  to 
swing  back  to  the  remote  land  of  his  ancestors.  The  spell 
of  Africa  was  upon  him  and  he  spoke  with  the  native  elo- 
quence of  his  race.  Most  of  his  auditors,  hardly  above  voo- 
dooism,  would  feel  the  spell.  He  said  that  a  short  time  ago 
he  heard  something  like  a  clap  of  thunder  and  .then  he  saw 
something  like  a  flash  of  lightning,  and  then  he  saw  the 
"  stars  and  stripes  "  coming,  which  proclaimed  freedom. 
His  auditors  crooned  approval.  The  white  people,  he 
continued,  "  talk  about  living  in  harmony,  and  yet  are 
always  talking  about  one  race  being  exterminated  if  they 


458  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

did  not  preserve  harmony.  Before  they  [the  negroes] 
should  vote  for  such  people  let  the  colored  race  be  extermin- 
ated." He  told  his  fellow  blacks  to  vote  for  the  "Yankees," 
who  had  given  them  "  their  privileges  ".  "  You  should  be 
thankful  to  God  first  and  the  Yankees  next,"  he  said,  and 
continuing,  "  the  country  had  tried  rebels  two  years,  and 
the  freedmen  had  not  gotten  justice,"  in  proof  of  which  he 
said  that  his  wife  had  a  suit  in  the  courts  now  and  the 
"  nasty,  stinking  law-officer  was  trying  his  best  to  swindle 
her  out  of  her  property." 

More  black  orations  of  similar  quality  followed.  In- 
justice borne,  future  votes,  and  general  invective  against 
the  native  white  were  their  burthen.  Finally,  a  white  man 
was  speaking — some  carpet-bagger.  Slavery,  he  said,  had 
been  swept  away  and  the  blacks  were  as  good  as  whites.  In 
Charleston  the  authorities  had  given  the  "  colored  man  " 
the  right  to  ride  on  the  street  cars.  For  the  edification  of 
the  crowd  he  related  what  was  termed  "  an  instance  of  a 
Southern  man  in  New  York,"  pointless  but  illustrative  of 
a  sinister  tendency.  The  Southern  white  man  it  seems  was 
taken  by  a  friend  to  church  and  when  he  got  there  he  found 
a  negro  in  the  man's  pew.  The  Southern  white  man  said, 
"Why,  how  is  this?  You've  got  a  negro  in  your  pew." 
"  But,"  replied  his  friend,  "  he's  worth  $50,000."  "  Oh!  " 
exclaimed  the  Southerner,  "  introduce  him  to  me  at  once." 
(Received  with  shouts  by  the  crowd  of  blacks.)  The  speak- 
ing was  followed  by  "  a  dinner  "  managed  by  the  secret 
societies  who  fed  a  host  of  blacks  already  beginning  to  roar 
because  of  liquor.  The  late  afternoon  was  consumed  with 
more  radical  speeches,  firing  of  guns,  pulling  of  razors,  and 
near  the  end  of  the  festivities  a  barber-politician.  Green 
Davidson,  attempted  "  riding  through  the  crowd."  His 
efforts  ended  in  a  "  grand  fight  ".^ 

*  Taken  from  an  account  in  Floridian,  May  21,  1867.    The  Floridian 


BEGINNING  OF  RADICAL  RECONSTRUCTION 


459 


Other  political  picnics  and  rallies  similar  to  this  occurred 
in  many  other  localities  of  Florida  during  the  golden,  swel- 
tering summer  months  of  1867.  The  outlook  was  gloomy 
for  those  wishing  peace. 

Soon  after  inauguration  of  the  congressional  plan  of 
reconstruction,  Conservative  leaders  in  Florida  began  to  try 
for  the  political  control  of  the  negro.  They  were  suspected 
and  generally  unpopular  among  their  ex-slaves.  Their 
method  was  to  speak  at  negro  meetings,  where  by  threats 
and  persuasion  they  tried  to  counteract  the  influence  of 
Radical  leaders,  who  drew  their  inspiration  and  funds  prob- 
ably from  the  North.  The  Southerner  was  a  poor  mixer 
with  the  blacks.  To  move  with  them  socially  was  against 
his  training  and  against  his  instincts.  Negro  mass  meet- 
ings were  often  gotten  up  by  white  Conservatives. 

In  Pensacola  Hayes  Satterlee,  an  aged  negro  who  es- 
poused the  cause  of  his  one-time  master,  called  upon  those 
of  his  race  "  to  come  out  of  the  shade  into  the  pure  air." 
This  was  his  text  for  an  attack  upon  the  secret  political  so- 
cieties which  were  attracting  so  many  blacks.  In  the  old 
negro's  invocation  "  to  come  out  of  the  shade  into  the  pure 
air  "  we  have  a  resume  of  a  large  part  of  Conservative 
stump  speeches  during  1867.  The  attack  on  Lincoln 
Brotherhoods  and  Union  Leagues  was  bitter  and  sustained.^ 

In  Tallahassee,  on  April  12th,  Mr.  Hogue  and  Mr.  Papy, 

was  a  Conservative  journal,  but  in  comparing  its  account  with  that  of 
a  similar  event  by  an  intelligent  black  who  took  part,  John  Wallace, 
we  find  the  same  features  emphasized ;  see  Wallace,  Carpetbag  Rule, 
p.  39.  Also  compare  with  Rpt.  Col.  Sprague  on  negro  Emancipation 
Day  procession,  A^.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  20,  1867. 

*  Another  negro,  Wm.  Martin  of  Lake  City  (a  free  negro  under 
slavery)  in  an  "Address "  to  those  of  his  own  race  advised  against 
breaking  with  the  Southern  whites  and  particularly  aga'nst  being 
made  "  political  slaves  of — mere  tools  to  be  used  when  wanted  and 
then  cast  aside — and  therefore  I  say  to  you  keep  aloof  from  the 
secret  societies — let  politics  alone,"  etc. — Floridian,  June  25,  1867. 


460  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

prominent  ex-slave-holders,  spoke  to  an  assemblage  of 
blacks,  and  promptly  at  the  conclusion  of  their  remarks  in- 
temperate and  offensive  speeches  were  made  by  several 
negroes.^  On  the  20th,  again  in  Tallahassee,  a  mass-meet- 
ing of  blacks  was  addressed  by  Governor  Walker  and  Judge 
Mcintosh.  The  public  square  was  filled  with  negroes. 
Some  people  feared  violent  contact  between  the  races,  but 
the  white  speakers  were  heard  with  respectful  attention. 
However,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  advice  and  warning  by 
the  state's  chief  executive  and  a  well-known  judge,  resolu- 
tions were  adopted  which  declared :  "  We  cherish  no  ill-will 
against  our  former  masters,  but  the  freedom-loving  people 
of  the  North  deserve  our  thanks  for  our  freedom.  Re- 
solved, ...  to  identify  ourselves  with  the  Republican 
Party."  ^  In  Quincy,  April  17th,  blacks  and  whites  met, 
and  men  of  both  races  spoke — the  white  speakers  being 
Judge  Dupont,  chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court,  and  two 
well-known  planters.  Colonel  C.  B.  Love  and  Colonel  R. 
H.  M.  Davidson,  all  ex-slave-holders.*  In  Tallahassee  an- 
other mass-meeting  took  place  on  the  27th.  Judge  Douglas 
of  the  supreme  court  and  Mr.  Wescott,  attorney-general, 
spoke.*  During  the  month  of  May  similar  mass-meetings 
of  blacks  and  Conservative  whites  were  held  in  Ocala,^ 
Lake  city,*  Monticello,^  Jacksonville,  and  Gainesville.* 

*  Floridian,  Apr.  15,  1867. 

^  Floridian,  Apr.  23,  1867 ;  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Apr.  30,  1867 ;  A'^.  Y, 
Herald,  Apr.  30,  1867. 

•  Quincy  Commonwealth,  Apr.  23,  1867.      *  Floridian,  Apr.  30,  1867. 
'  Quotation   from  E.  Fla.  Banner,  Floridian,   May  3,    1867  —  about 

1000  present. 

•  From  Florida  Times,  Floridian,  May  7,  1867;  also  May  21,  1867. 
Meeting  was  Apr.  26.  Eight  negro  speakers.  Tone  conciliatory,  but 
all  for  Repub.  party.     Resolutions  condemned  Pres.  Johnson. 

^  Floridian,  May  7,  1867.     Meeting  Apr.  30. 

*  Rpt.  of  Col.   Sprague,  A^.   Y.   Tribune,  June   13,   1867.     He  stated 


BEGINNING  OF  RADICAL  RECONSTRUCTION       461 

Crowds  of  negroes  attended  these  meetings.  The  inter- 
est of  blacks  in  secret  societies,  religion,  and  political  dis- 
cussion was  beginning  to  interfere  with  work  on  the  plan- 
tations. At  a  Lake  City  meeting  the  local  Freedmen's 
Bureau  agent  publicly  advised  the  negroes  to  send  delegates 
to  represent  them  at  future  political  rallies,  as  it  was  un- 
profitable for  all  to  come.  ^ 

Much  of  the  violent  and  incendiary  talk  by  negroes  at 
this  time  was  probably  the  talk  of  those  who  wished  to  as- 
tonish and  who  were  in  love  with  the  sound  of  their  own 
voices.  Green  Davidson,  a  notorious  and  robust  negro  fire- 
eater  of  Florida,  would  sometimes  take  up  a  collection  in  his 
hat  from  his  white  hearers — ex-masters  mostly — after  a 
particularly  fiery  and  revolutionary  speech  directed  against 
them.  But  back  of  it  all  was  an  ugly  £tnd  insolent  spirit  of 
opposition  to  the  white  man  who  refused  to  mingle  with  the 
blacks  on  terms  of  social  equality. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  good  deal  of  talk  by  Southern 
whites  was  not  seriously  meant  at  first.  Threats  of  eco- 
nomic retaliation,  of  turning  the  negro  away  from  work  if 
he  did  not  vote  the  right  way,  were  far  more  easily  made 
than  executed.  Would  the  Bureau  and  Federal  military 
allow  such  retaliation  ?  Could  the  white  employer  afford  to 
"turn  off"  his  negro  employees?  Who  could  take  their 
places  ? 

The  more  enlightened  and  shrewder  blacks  saw  into  the 
situation.  "  It  is  difficult  to  say  what  course  the  white 
people  of  the  state  will  take  to  control  the  negro  vote," 
wrote  Colonel  Sprague.'*    At  the  time  that  this  observation 

that  at  Jacksonville  2,000  blacks  assembled ;   Gainesville,  2,000 ;   Lake 
City,  3,000;  Tallahassee,  5,000. 

*  Floridian,  May  7,  1867. 

»  N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  13,  1867. 


462  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

was  made  the  whites,  as  we  have  seen,  were  attempting  this 
control  by  attacking  in  public  speech  the  secret  societies, 
by  advising  co-operation  between  black  and  native  whites, 
by  vague  promises  of  just  treatment  and  political  rights, 
and  by  vague  threats  of  economic  retaliation  for  those  who 
should  support  the  Radical  party.  The  Conservative  did 
not  promise  the  negro  the  ballot.  The  Radical  did  promise 
it  to  him  and  drilled  him  to  use  it.  It  might  be  well  to  turn 
attention  now  to  this  question  of  Radical  political  organi- 
zation which  went  rapidly  forward  while  the  state  was 
under  military  rule. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

Registration  and  the  Organization  of  Local  Parties, 

1867 

The  paramount  power  in  the  state  from  March  15th,  1867, 
to  July  4th,  1868,  was  the  Federal  military.  Post  command- 
ers ruled  while  the  Congressional  plan  of  reconstruction 
was  being  applied.  Local  civil  government  weakly  existed 
as  the  every-day  instrument  of  record  and  litigation,  but 
completely  subject  to  the  military.^  Federal  courts  were  in 
session  ^  and  the  post-office  department  continued  to  deliver 
mails,  although  the  number  of  post-offices  was  reduced 
from  181  to  85  before  June,  1867.'  Four  days  after  Gen- 
eral Pope  assumed  command  he  instructed  all  post  com- 
manders "  to  report  as  soon  as  practicable  any  failure  of 
civil  tribunals  or  officers  to  render  equal  justice  to  the  peo- 
ple, and  whilst  not  interfering  with  the  functions  of  the 
civil  officers,"  they  were  directed  to  give  particular  atten- 
tion to  the  "  manner  in  which  such  functions  are  dis- 
charged." *  The  legislature  did  not  meet.  The  governor 
did  not  attempt  to  enforce  the  law.  No  elections  were  al- 
lowed by  the  military.  Vacancies  in  office  were  filled  by 
military  appointment.^     Only  a  few  removals  from  office 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  342,  pp.  1 14-131;  Floridian,  Apr. 
26,  May  10,  June  14,  1867. 

'  Floridian,  June  14,  1867. 

*  Rpt.  P.  M.  Gen.,  1867-8,  p.  38. 

*  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  14,  pp.  108-9;  Gen.  Ord.  no.  4, 
3rd  Mil.  Dist.,  Apr.  4,  1867. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  128,  Sp.  Ord.,  no.  20  (Appt.  of  justice  of  peace  in  Her- 

463 


464  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

by  the  military  were  made  in  Florida,  and  the  officers  were 
minor  ones/ 

The  Republican  Club  of  Jacksonville  tried  to  force  Gov- 
ernor Walker's  removal  but  failed.^  At  the  head  of  this 
arbitrary  government  stood  General  Pope,  stationed  at 
Atlanta,  Georgia.  Under  him  was  Colonel  Sprague  in 
Tallahassee.  Under  Sprague  were  the  post  commanders 
from  lieutenant  to  lieutenant-colonel,  stationed  in  every 
town  in  Florida.  The  will  of  the  commander  was  backed 
by  the  troops  composing  the  garrisons. 

The  military  brooked  no  embarrassments  from  action  of 
the  courts.  "No  civil  court,"  stated  general  orders  of  August 
2nd,  1867,  "  will  hereafter  entertain  any  action  whatever 
against  officers  or  soldiers  or  any  person  for  acts  performed 
in  accord  with  orders  from  the  military  authorities  or  by 
their  sanction."  *  Shortly  after,  August  19th,  general 
orders  directed  all  judges  to  submit  on  demand  all  papers 
in  any  case  to  military  headquarters  on  pain  of  arrest  and 
trial  before  military  commission  if  they  did  not  comply. 
The  same  day  the  same  power  similarly  ordained  that 
"  grand  and  petit  jurors  and  all  other  jurors  for  the  trial 
of  cases  civil  or  criminal  or  for  the  administration  of 
law  "  *  be  taken  exclusively  from  voters  registered  under 
the  Reconstruction  Acts — which  meant  that  for  the  time 

nando,  Fla.)  ;  p.  135,  Sp.  Ord.,  no.  40  (Appt.  of  member  city  council  at 
Apalachicola  to  fill  vacancy  caused  by  death.)  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C, 
2nd  S.,  no.  342,  p.  122,  Sp.  Ord.,  no.  27  (Appt.  mayor,  council  and 
marshal  for  town  of  Gainesville),  p.  126,  Sp.  Ord.,  no.  238  (Appt.  cir- 
cuit judge  to  fill  vacancy  caused  by  death)  et£..  An.  Cyclo.,  1867, 
proclam.  of  Gov.  Marvin,  June  18,  in  regard  to  vacancies  in  civil  offices. 

'  For  instance,  Suwanee  News,  Oct.  9,  1867. 
^Jour.  Repub.  Club,  May  2,  1867. 

•  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  342,  p.  109. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  no. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  LOCAL  PARTIES  465 

many  of  the  largest  property-holders  and  most  respected 
whites  in  Florida  could  not  sit  on  juries  or  take  any  part 
whatever  in  the  deliberation  of  courts. 

Florida  did  not  suffer  much  material  hardship  from 
military  rule.  The  people  were  more  or  less  used  to  it  by 
1867.  Federal  officers  generally  stood  for  a  certain  sort  of 
law  and  order  and  peace.  When  it  became  apparent  that 
the  negroes  of  Central  Florida  were  attending  night  meet- 
ings under  arms,  orders  were  promptly  issued  forbidding 
them  under  severe  penalty  from  congregating  at  night  with 
arms  in  the  counties  of  Leon,  Jackson,  Calhoun,  Gadsden, 
Liberty,  Franklin,  Wakulla,  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  Tay- 
lor.^ To  keep  whiskey  from  aggravating  any  trouble  be- 
tween blacks  and  whites  during  the  July  4th  celebrations,  all 
bar-rooms  were  closed  by  military  order  from  July  3rd  to 
July  6th.^  Military  courts  supplanted  the  civil  courts  when 
the  civil  tribunals  were  distrusted.' 

In  more  ways  than  merely  keeping  order  did  General 
Pope  desire  his  soldiers  to  be  instruments  for  bringing  to 
pass  a  thorough  application  of  Congress's  plans.  Soldiers 
sat  on  registration  boards;  a  few  appointments  and  re- 
movals were  made  in  civil  office  by  military  orders ;  officials 
opposing  reconstruction  were  threatened  by  post  command- 
ers; state  printing  and  advertising  were  withheld  by 
military  orders  from  those  journals  opposing  Congres- 
sional reconstruction ;  *  and  finally,  the  division  of  the  state 

'  Gen.  Ord.,  no.  30,  An.  Cyclo.,  1867;  Floridian,  June  28,  1867. 

'  An.  Cyclo.,  1867. 

'  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  14,  p.  93,  Gen.  Ord.,  no.  i  (Fla.) 
Apr.  I,  1867,  pp.  108-9,  Gen.  Ord.,  no.  4,  Apr.  4,  1867.  H.  Ex.  Docs., 
40th  C.,  2nd  S.,  no.  342,  Gen.  Ord.,  no.  7,  Jan.  11,  1868;  Gen.  Ord.,  no. 
10,  Jan.  15,  1868. 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C.,  2nd  S.,  no.  342,  p.  131,  Gen.  Ord.,  no.  22, 
Feb.  2,  1868. 


466  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

into  election  districts  by  General  Pope  had  about  it  certainly 
the  traces  of  sharp  political  practice. 

The  first  large  task  of  the  military  commander  was  ac- 
complishing the  registration  of  prospective  voters  under 
the  Reconstruction  Acts.  By  order  of  April  8th,  General 
Pope  began  the  work.  The  thirty-nine  counties  were 
grouped  in  nineteen  registration  districts  or  "  divisions  ". 
In  each  "  division  "  was  a  registration  board  of  three  per- 
sons appointed  by  Pope  on  the  advice  of  state  commander 
Sprague.  "  It  is  desirable  that  in  all  cases  registers  shall 
be  civilians,  where  it  is  possible  to  obtain  such,"  ran  the 
orders  of  April  8th.  Colonel  Sprague  was  authorized  to 
appoint  one  or  more  "  supervisors  of  registration  ",  whose 
business  it  should  be  to  visit  the  various  points  where  regis- 
tration was  being  carried  on,  to  inspect  the  operations  of  the 
registers,  and  to  assure  themselves  that  every  man  entitled 
to  vote  has  "  the  necessary  information  concerning  his 
political  rights  ".  ^ 

General  instructions  were  issued  to  registers  on  June  ist 
They  were  directed  to  proceed  to  register  all  male  citizens 
of  the  United  States  within  their  jurisdiction,  twenty-one 
years  old  and  upwards,  irrespective  of  color  or  previous 
condition,  who  should  subscribe  to  the  required  oath. 
"  You  will  cause  the  fact  of  your  appointment  to  be  made 
known  throughout  the  district  by  all  means  within  your 
reach,"  stated  the  instructions — "  hand-bills,  letters,  notices 
posted  in  public  places,  such  as  election  polls,  post-offices, 
cross-roads,  taverns,  stores,  etc."  The  registration  boards 
were  directed  to  visit  "  each  and  every  election  precinct  in 
each  and  every  county,"  spending  in  each  precinct  the  "num- 
ber of  days  necessary  to  complete  the  registration."  In 
proceeding  to  register  they  were  "  to  read  distinctly  to  the 

•  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  14,  pp.  107-110. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  LOCAL  PARTIES  467 

person  or  persons  to  be  registered  the  oath  prescribed  by 
law  and  printed  on  the  books  of  registration."  Each  person 
to  be  enrolled  must  sign  "  a  separate  copy  in  the  book,"  and 
having  taken  "  the  prescribed  oath  "  in  the  presence  of  the 
registers  must  receive  a  signed  and  numbered  registration 
certificate.^ 

Special  instructions  were  issued  by  Pope  to  the  Florida 
boards  on  June  17th.  They  were  forbidden  to  register  any 
one-time  Federal  or  state  official  who  "  afterwards  en- 
gaged in  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  United  States 
or  gave  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemies  thereof."  The  in- 
structions included  among  such  proscribed  persons  members 
of  Congress  and  all  local  officers  down  to  and  including 
"  mayors  and  intendants  of  towns  and  citizens  who  are  ex 
oMcio  justices  of  the  peace."  * 

The  work  went  forward  slowly.  Negroes  and  soldiers 
often  sat  on  the  registration  boards.  The  "  Iron  Clad 
Oath  "  was  required  of  those  performing  the  functions  of 
registrars  or  "  registers  ".  Ex-Confederates  could  not 
take  it  without  perjuring  themselves  and  therefore  most 
native  whites  were  not  eligible.  The  registration  boards 
moved  from  place  to  place  within  their  counties.' 

Registration  in  Florida  began  July  15th  and  continued 
till  September  20th.*  The  man  who  supervised  and  directed 
it  was  Colonel  Hart,  of  Jacksonville,  a  Southerner  and 
one-time  "  Union  man  ".  He  was  appointed  superintendent 
of  registration  on  June  13th  by  General  Pope.^     In  order 

*  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  14,  pp.  1 19-120. 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  342,  pp.  106-107. 

*  For  examples  of  how  board  was  expected  to  work,  see  notice  of 
Board  of  Registration  for  Putnam  Coun'y,  Floridian,  Aug.  9,  1867. 

*  An.   CycJo.,    1867;    Gen.    Order,   no.   21    extended   the   registration 
period  from  Aug.  20th  to  Sept.  20th ;  see  Floridian,  Sept.  6,  1867. 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  342,  p.  122,  Gen.  Ord.,  no.  43; 
An.  Cyclo.,  1867. 


468  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

to  be  registered  the  individual  was  required  to  answer  satis- 
factorily practically  any  questions  that  the  registrars  wished 
to  ask  him.  The  boards  exercised  the  power  of  going  be- 
hind the  oath  and  throwing  out  an  applicant  on  his  record 
as  they  understood  it/  The  object  was  to  register  only 
the  "  truly  loyal  ".  The  registrars  were  directed  by  the 
military  to  see  to  it  that  the  civil  officials  of  the  state  did 
not  discourage  "  the  people  "  in  taking  an  active  part  in 
"  Reconstruction  ".  The  names  of  all  such  officers  "  dis- 
couraging Reconstruction "  were  called  for  at  military 
headquarters.^  Furthermore,  General  Pope  paid  each  re- 
gister so  much  per  head  for  those  persons  registered  by 
him.  "  The  object  of  graduating  the  pay  of  registers," 
stated  Pope,  "  is  to  make  sure  that  the  entire  freedmen's 
vote  will  be  brought  out  ".  Pope  prepared  to  crush  South- 
em  whites  with  negro  majorities.'  The  Freedmen's  Bureau 
aided  the  registration  boards  in  lining-up  the  negroes  for 
enrollment.* 

When  the  order  was  published  which  divided  Florida 
into  nineteen  election  districts  a  useless  protest  went  up 
from  the  Conservative  journals.'  The  state  was  in  process 
of  being  "  gerrymandered  "  by  the  matching  of  counties 
and  the  apportionment  of  representation.^  To  certain 
counties  where  the  black  vote  would  be  overwhelmingly 

'  Floridian,  Sep.  20,  1867.  For  a  general  discussion  of  this  question 
in  the  South  see  Rhodes,  v.  vi,  pp.  79-82, 

'  An.  Cyclo.,  1867;  Gen.  Ord.,  no.  41,  July  19. 
*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  20,  p.  40. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  41st  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  121,  pp.  47-48  statement  of  Col. 
Sprague. 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  342,  pp.  1 14-16,  Gen.  Ord.,  no,  74, 
Oct.  5-  1867.  Floridian,  Oct.  15,  1867.  See  Wallace,  Carpet-bag  Rule, 
PP-  49-50-  He  points  out  that  five  of  the  less  populous  counties  (white) 
were  excluded  from  representation. 

*  Floridian,  Oct.  8,  1867.  Editorial  on  "Skillful  Gerrymandering". 
See  charge  of  Conservatives  against  Pope,  An.  Cyclo.,  1867. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  LOCAL  PARTIES  469 

greater  than  the  white,  counties  were  added  where  the 
white  vote  would  be  greater  than  the  black,  but  not  great 
enough  to  overcome  the  lead  of  the  black  vote  in  the  con- 
solidated counties  composing  the  district.  Such  an  arrange- 
ment made  effective  use  of  actual  negro  majorities.  Alto- 
gether, nine  counties  which  might  have  sent  up  delegations 
to  the  constitutional  convention  elected  by  whites  were 
added  by  General  Pope  to  black  counties,  and  thus  their 
Conservative  strength  was  absorbed  as  ink  in  blotting  paper. 
The  paper  in  turn  became  black.  If  county  lines  had  been 
respected  and  as  many  as  twenty  per  cent  of  the  whites 
disfranchised,  twenty-nine  of  the  thirty-nine  counties  might 
have  remained  under  white  control,  and  a  bare  majority 
of  delegates  chosen  would  have  been  the  choice  of  Con- 
servative white  electors. 

In  the  assigning  of  representation  to  districts.  General 
Pope  gave  preference  to  those  districts  certain  to  be  con- 
trolled by  the  negroes.  For  example,  the  13th  District 
(Bradford  and  Clay  counties)  with  a  population  of  about 
4,500,  mostly  whites,  was  given  one  delegate;  while  the 
4th  District  (Gadsden  County),  population  about  7,500, 
mostly  negroes,  was  given  three  delegates. 

The  result  of  registration  rendered  much  gerrymander- 
ing unnecessary.  The  figures  stood  11,148  white  voters 
and  15,434  black.^  This  meant  that  less  than  10,000  Con- 
servatives faced  more  than  1 6,000  Radicals.  About  thirty  per 
cent  of  the  whites  had  been  disfranchised  or  had  refrained 
from  registering.^     The  bulk  of  the  negroes  were  regis- 

^  Floridxan,  Oct.  8th,  1867;  An.  Cyclo.,  1867;  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Oct. 
7th,  1867.  The  Tribune's  figures  are  slightly  inaccurate.  In  the  2nd, 
5th,  10  h,  13th,  i6th,  17th,  i8th,  19th,  dists.  the  whites  had  a  majority. 
These  districts  were  assigned  10  of  the  46  representatives  to  be  sent 
to  the  convention. 

'  This  estimate  is  based  on  an  average  of  male  adult  inhabitants  ac- 


470 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


tered  at  an  earlier  date  than  the  whites.  The  majority  of 
the  latter  held  off  until  the  last  few  days. 

When  the  result  of  registration  was  known  Conservative 
leaders  advised :  "  vote  for  a  delegate  to  a  convention  but 
do  not  vote  for  a  convention."  '  According  to  the  Supple- 
mental Reconstruction  Act  of  March  23rd,  no  convention 
would  be  held  unless  a  majority  of  the  registered  voters 
"  shall  have  voted  on  the  question  of  holding  such  conven- 
tion ".  ^  The  problem  was  to  comply  with  the  Congres- 
sional policy  and  at  the  same  time  defeat  it.  With  Radical 
registration  more  than  5,000  ahead  of  Conservative,  there 
was  indeed  a  slim  chance  to  confound  Congress  by  taking 
it  at  its  own  word. 

In  the  summer  of  1867  two  Radical  politicians — Daniel 
Richards,  white,  of  Illinois,  and  William  U.  Saunders,  black, 
of  Maryland — appeared  in  Florida.*  They  were  commonly 
reputed  to  be  representatives  of  the  Republican  national 
committee  sent  to  the  state  to  lead  in  the  local  organization 
of  the  party.^  Their  actual  relations  with  the  national 
committee  are  not  clear.  Richards  had  been  in  Florida 
shortly  after  the  war  as  a  Federal  treasury  agent.®  The 
two  men  soon  assumed  a  leading  part  in  Republican  politics 

cording  to  the  Census  of  1867  which  gave  the  white  popula'ion  of 
Florida  as  81,892,  but  did  not  distinguish  between  men,  women  and 
children. 

^  Floridian,  Aug.  and  Sept.,  1867,  passim. 

'  Floridian.  Sept.  6'.h.   1867.     By  this  date   10,500  blacks  had  regis- 
tered and  5,100  whites.    The  registration  books  closed  Sept.  20th. 

"  Floridian,  Oct.  i8th  and  25th,  1867. 

*  Text  of  Act,  see  also  Gen.  Ord.,  no.  74,  3rd  Mil.  Dist.  Oct.  5th, 
H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  342,  pp.  114- 116. 

'Floridian,    Feb.    11,    1868.     Wallace,    Carpet-bag   Rule,    pp.    44-4S; 
Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Fla.,  v.  i,  p.  303. 

•  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  Rpt.  of  Comit.  (in  Fla.> 
on  Eligibility. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  LOCAL  PARTIES 


471 


within  the  state.  They  were  particularly  prominent  in  the 
organization  of  Union  Leagues  among  the  negroes — found- 
ing new  chapters  and  binding  together  the  whole,  chapter 
by  chapter,  into  a  fairly  compact  political  organization/ 

Another  man  was  soon  associated  politically  with  Rich- 
ards and  Saunders.  He  was  an  ex-officer  of  a  negro  regi- 
ment and  with  his  regiment  had  come  into  Florida  as  an 
invader  during  the  war.  At  the  close  of  hostilities  he  had 
settled  at  Fernandina,  East  Florida.  He  wore  green  spec- 
tacles, took  a  great  interest  in  the  negroes,  delivered  on  oc- 
casions rather  pulpitish  political  speeches,  called  on  the 
name  of  Jesus  from  the  stump,  and  was  at  his  best  when 
hurling  what  was  termed  "  oratorical  Billingsgate "  at 
"  rebels  "  and  the  "  poisonous  breath  of  slavery  ".  This 
might  have  been  a  bad  pun,  for  the  man  was  Liberty  Bill- 
ings, of  New  Hampshire — tall,  slender,  black-haired,  rough, 
unscrupulous,  hard-fisted  in  affairs,  and  thrifty  in  politics. 
Billings  was  at  first  popular  with  the  negroes.  He  kissed 
black  babies,  spoke  often  of  God,  and  did  his  best  to  stir  up 
strife  between  the  races.^ 

That  which  characterized  Billings,  Saunders,  and  Rich- 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  45.  Wallace  implies  that  Richards  and 
Saunders  founded  the  first  chapters  of  the  Union  League  in  Florida. 
Both  Harrison  Reed  and  Judge  Chase  spoke  of  Union  Leagues  18 
months  before  this, — see  Johnson  Papers,  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Fla., 
V.  I,  p.  303;  Floridian,  June  3,  1867 — reference  to  the  founding  of  the 
Union  League  in  Jacksonville.  Floridian,  Apr.  16,  1867, — The  Leagues 
"  exist  under  our  very  noses  and  we  are  told  that  if  we  had  a  list  of 
par  ies  belonging  to  them,  the  list  would  surprise  us,"  etc.  Floridian, 
June  28,  1867, — "  Secret  societies  are  being  organized  in  every  county," 
etc.  Floridian,  Apr.  26,  1867, — "  Union  Leagues  are  formed  in  a  dozen 
counties  with  a  view  of  making  a  strict  division  in  politics  and  colored 
citizens  have  already  formed  clubs  here  (Tallahassee)  and  in  St. 
Augustine,  Key  West,  Palatka,  and  Pensacola." 

*  See  Reference  to  Billings  in  Floridian,  Feb.  18,  1868;  Wallace, 
op.  cit.,  pp.  45  and  63. 


472 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


ards  was  their  fondness  for  extreme  views.  They  were 
very  radical.  Billings  was  almost  Stevenesque  in  his 
cantankerous  bitterness  toward  Southern  whites  and  most 
existing  institutions  of  the  South. 

A  more  moderate  or  conservative  faction  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  was  that  grouped  about  the  Republican  Club  of 
Jacksonville.  The  club  was  organized  during  March,  1867, 
in  the  business  office  of  Colonel  O.  B.  Hart — the  Federal 
chief  registrar  and  one-time  "  Union-man "  of  East 
Florida.  It  grew  steadily.  At  the  end  of  six  weeks  some 
200  of  the  most  substantial  citizens  in  Jacksonville  and  the 
vicinity  were  enrolled — Northerners  and  Southerners.^ 

The  club  was  alive  and  doing.  It  met  twice  a  week,  sent 
its  representatives  to  different  points  within  the  state  to 
take  part  in  the  negro  mass-meetings,^  called  on  the  Fed- 
eral military  to  investigate  alleged  violence  and  injustice 
to  blacks,*  proffered  advice  to  the  commander  of  Federal 
troops  in  Florida,  intrigued  for  the  removal  by  the  mili- 
tary of  certain  civil  officials  of  the  state,*  and  finally  engi- 
neered the  first  real  state  convention  of  the  Republican 
party  in  Florida.^ 

Speaking  from  a  knowledge  of  after  history  this  organi- 
zation had  among  its  members  most  of  the  brains  and  in- 
fluence at  the  party's  disposal  in  Florida.    Two  future  Re- 

1  See  Journal  of  the  Union-Se publican  Club  of  Jacksonville,  MSS. 
Florida  Hislorical  Society,  Jacksonville.  The  Club  was  organized, 
Mch.  27,  1867,  at  the  business  office  of  Col.  O.  B.  Hart.  Hart  was 
chairman  of  this  first  meeting.  C.  L.  Robinson,  H.  Bisbee,  Jr.,  J.  C. 
Greely,  and  N.  C.  Dennett  were  among  those  associated  in  founding 
the  club. 

*  Journal  of  Union-Repub.  Club,  Apr.  25,  1867. 

*  Ibid.,  May  30,  1867, 

*  Ibid.,  Apr.  8,  11,  and  18  and  June  13,  1867. 
6  Ibid.,  May  2,  1867. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  LOCAL  PARTIES 


473 


publican  governors  were  members  of  the  club — Reed  and 
Hart.  On  issuing  a  call  for  a  state  convention  at  Talla- 
hassee, the  Jacksonville  club  after  long  discussion  pointedly 
refrained  from  calling  a  "  Radical  Union-Republican " 
convention.^  It  dropped  the  word  "  Radical  ".  The  inci- 
dent is  suggestive  of  its  character.  Certainly  it  was  less 
radical  than  the  Billings,  Saunders,  and  Richards  faction. 

A  third  element  of  the  Republican  party  in  Florida  was 
the  group  led  by  Colonel  T.  W.  Osborn.  It  included  most 
of  the  Freedmen  Bureau  agents  and  the  negro  secret  order 
known  as  the  Lincoln  Brotherhood.^  Osborn  was  a  pro- 
ficient politician  who  did  not  indulge  in  radical  tirades. 
He  has  been  discussed  in  a  foregoing  chapter.  He  was  the 
official  head  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  in  Florida  until 
June  nth,  1866,^  and  was  Head  Master  of  the  Lincoln 
Brotherhood. 

In  the  foregoing  we  have  the  three  political  factions 
which  at  the  time,  1867,  made  up  the  local  Republican  or- 
ganization— Billings,  Saunders,  and  Richards  with  the 
Union  Leagues;  Hart,  Robinson,  Reed,  and  others  of  the 
Jacksonville  Republican  Club  with  some  capital  and  busi- 
ness prestige;  and  T.  W.  Osborn  with  the  Bureau  and  the 
Lincoln  Brotherhood. 

In  estimating  the  strength  of  Republican  organization  in 
Florida,  the  other  factors  to  be  considered  are  the  Federal 
military  and  the  Federal  postal,  customs,  judicial,  and  in- 
ternal revenue  officials.*     Also  the  Supplemental   Recon- 

"^  Journal  of  Union-Republican  Club,  May  9,  1867. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  42,  45.  Wallace  is  practically  the  only  source 
substantiating  this  statement.  An  Osborn  faction  certainly  existed. 
Osborn  was  an  active  Bureau  official;  see  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C, 
1st  S.,  no.  70;  2nd  S.,  no.  6;  A^.  Y.  World,  May  31,  1866,  etc. 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  6,  pp.  43-44. 

*  United  States  Official  Register,  j86/.    Exclusive  of  Bureau  agents 


474  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

struction  Act  of  March  23rd  provided  for  registration 
boards  composed  of  those  who  could  take  the  "  Ironclad 
Oath."  This  requirement  effectually  barred  most  Conser- 
vatives from  participating  in  revising  the  voting  lists.  The 
vast  work  of  registration  fell  to  negroes,  Southern  loyalists 
or  "  scalawags  ",  the  Federal  military,  and  carpet-baggers.^ 
These  men  when  dishonest  "  doctored  "  the  lists.  When 
honest,  they  were  inclined  toward  spreading  very  decidedly 
Radical  and  not  Conservative  ideas. 

By  these  various  agencies  the  Republican  or  Union- 
Republican  party  was  destined  to  bring  into  effective  use 
and  hold  in  line  the  negro  vote.  "  Let  us  do  nothing  to  con- 
fuse their  [negroes']  minds,"  cannily  wrote  Colonel  Hart, 
later  state  superintendent  of  registration,  "but  do  all  in  our 
power  to  keep  them  full  and  firm  in  their  present  faith."  ' 
The  faith  was  Republicanism. 

Results  showed  that  Radical  politicians  were  at  work  and 
were  laboring  effectively.  "  When  we  look  around  us  we 
see  loyalists  straining  every  nerve  to  get  the  entire  negro 
vote.  To  this  end  they  are  working  day  and  night.  .  .  . 
Night  after  night  they  have  meetings  and  musterings,  har- 
anguings  and  sermons,  singing  and  praying,  all  looking  to 
political  results,"  stated  the  Floridian.^ 

The  Republican  state  convention  called  by  the  Jackson- 
ville Republican   Club  assembled   in  Tallahassee  on  July 

there  were  132  Federal  office-holders  in  the  state  at  this  time,  besides 
17  individuals  and  3  R.  R.  corporations  who  were  mail  con'.ractors 
with  the  Federal  Postal  Dept.  The  distribution  of  the  offices  was  as 
follows :  80  postmasters ;  43  customs  officers  and  assistants ;  one  in- 
ternal revenue  assessor ;  one  register  and  one  receiver  of  Fed.  lands ; 
two  district  judges;  two  district  attorneys,  and  two  U.  S.  marshals. 

^  See  discussion  of  Col.  Sprague's  policy,  Floridian,  Apr.  26.  1867. 

'  Floridian,  July  2,  1867. 

'Floridian,  June  28,  1867. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  LOCAL  PARTIES 


475 


iith/  Thirty  counties  were  represented.  125  delegates 
were  recorded  as  present.^  About  one-half  of  the  number 
were  negroes.  It  was  the  first  real  state-wide  convention 
of  the  Republican  party  in  Florida  and  was  justly  termed 
"  a  mixed  multitude  ".^  The  object  of  Radical  leaders  was 
to  bring  together  into  more  coherent  shape  on  local  matters 
the  various  factions  of  Republicans  and  to  "  impress  "  the 
blacks. 

The  political  text  of  most  of  the  convention  speakers,  black 
and  white,  was  the  dishonesty,  extravagance,  and  injustice  of 
the  Conservative  state  government.  The  state  tax  rate  was 
attacked,  the  action  of  the  legislature  in  appropriating  funds 
for  Confederate  widows  and  orphans  was  violently  de- 
nounced, and  resolutions  were  passed  calling  on  General 
Pope  to  revoke  the  law ;  and  finally  the  state  treasurer  was 
accused  of  misappropriating  school  funds.*  The  truth  in 
any  of  the  charges  is  not  apparent  now,  and  probably  never 
was  apparent. 

The  organization  of  the  convention  accentuated  that  fac- 
tional alignment  already  discernible  among  Republicans." 
The  committee  on  nominations  failed  to  agree  on  a  perma- 
nent chairman.     It  brought  in  two  reports.     The  majority 

*  Journal  Un.-Repub.  Club,  May  2,  1867.  Floridian,  July  2,  9,  and 
12,  1867.  Col.  Hart  proposed  that  in  each  county,  county  mass  meet- 
ings be  held  and  political  organization  perfected. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1867;  Floridian,  July  12,  1867.  This  estimate  of  the 
number  of  delegates  is  high  and  probably  inaccurate. 

*  Floridian,  July  12,  1867. 

*  Floridian,  June  14;  July  16  and  26;  Aug.  9,  1867.  An.  Cyclo.,  1867. 
Before  and  after  this  convention  the  Conserva'ive  and  Radical  news- 
papers had  engaged  in  more  or  less  violent  controversy  over  state 
finance. 

*  The  Jacksonville  Times  and  the  Florida  Union,  both  Radical  sheets, 
had  for  some  weeks  been  engaged  in  a  war  of  words  which  indicated 
hostility  between  the  native  loyalists  and  Nor' hern  Republicans.  See 
also  Reed  to  Blair,  June  26,  1865,  Johnson  Papers. 


476  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

proposed  T.  W.  Osborn,  chief  of  the  Bureau  and  a  North- 
ern man ;  the  minority,  Colonel  O.  B.  Hart,  of  the  Jackson- 
ville Republican  Club,  a  Southern  loyalist.  In  the  debate 
which  followed  the  submission  of  the  two  reports.  Liberty 
Billings  bitterly  and  loudly  opposed  Hart.  He  said  that 
Hart  was  a  Southern  man  and  had  lived  too  long  in  the 
atmosphere  of  slavery  to  be  trusted.  Only  a  Northern  man, 
he  said,  could  undertsand  the  true  spirit  of  "  liberty  and 
Unionism ".  These  sentiments  were  vociferously  ap- 
plauded by  the  negroes.  On  the  putting  of  the  question  to 
a  vote  Hart  was  defeated  nineteen  to  twenty-eight.  He 
left  by  the  next  train  for  Jacksonville.^ 

"  The  finale  of  the  contest  for  chairmanship  of  the  late 
convention  at  Tallahassee  characterized  the  convention  to 
its  close,"  observed  the  Times,  a  Radical  journal  of  Jack- 
sonville. "  Two  opinions  or  policies  are  distinctly  enun- 
ciated— the  one  appreciative  of  and  admitting  the  loyal  ele- 
ment to  an  equality  in  the  work  of  reconstruction;  the 
other,  ignoring  that  element  in  toto."  ^  "  Already  the  birds 
of  passage  so  long  on  the  wing  have  staid  their  soaring  to 
and  fro,"  cynically  stated  the  Conservative  Floridian,  "and 
with  accordant  swoops  would  fain  settle  themselves  on  the 
prey  scented  from  afar."  ^ 

The  "  birds  of  passage "  referred  to  were  Northern 
men  who  came  into  the  state  seeking  political  office  or 
political  favors  from  the  Federal  government  or  from 
negro  voters.  Most  of  them  arrived  between  1865  and 
1868  as  Federal  officials,  would-be  planters,  merchants,  or 
professional  men.  Some  were  in  no  sense  "  birds  of  pas- 
sage," having  come  South  after  the  war  not  primarily  for 

^  Floridian,  July  12,  1867. 

'  Florida  Times,  Aug.  8 — The  Bureau  and  Lincoln  Brotherhood  were 
declared  to  be  working  against  the  "  Hart  interests." 
'  Floridian,  Sept.  6,  1867. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  LOCAL  PARTIES 


477 


politics  or  temporary  jobs,  but  rather  to  make  homes  where 
business  and  professional  opportunities  non-political  seemed 
most  promising.  Circumstances  soon  encouraged  such  men 
to  enter  politics,  and  not  infrequently  they  became  as  bad  as 
"  birds  of  passage  ". 

In  examining  the  careers  of  political  leaders  during  the 
Reconstruction  period  we  find  that  at  least  twelve  North- 
erners played  prominent  parts  as  Republican  leaders  in 
Florida,  namely.  Reed  of  Wisconsin,  Purman  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, Richards  of  Illinois,  Jenkins  of  New  York(?), 
Dennis  of  Massachusetts,  Osbom  of  New  Jersey,  Gleason 
of  Wisconsin,  Alden  of  Massachusetts,  Hamilton  of  Penn- 
sylvania, Billings  of  New  Hampshire,  and  Stearns  and  Bis- 
bee  of  Maine.  All  of  the  foregoing  except  Richards  came 
into  the  state  before  1867  and  therefore  before  the  blacks 
were  enfranchised  by  act  of  Congress.^  Eight  of  the  fore- 
going, Osborn,  Billings,  Alden,  Stearns,  Bisbee,  Jenkins, 
Dennis,  and  Hamilton,  were  ex-officers  of  the  Union  army, 
and  five  of  them  had  entered  the  state  before  1866.  Nine 
of  the  twelve  were  bona-Ude  citizens  of  Florida  by  the 
spring  of  1867.    Some  had  families  and  some  had  none. 

1  Reed,  first  Repub.  Governor,  arrived  in  Fla.  in  1862  as  Tax  Com- 
missioner: H.  Ex.  Docs.,  38th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  18;  Reed  to  Blair, 
Johnson  Papers.  Purman  came  to  Fla.  in  1866  from  Washington 
(City)  as  Fed.  officeholder:  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22  {Ku 
Klux),  V.  13,  p.  149.  Richards  came  to  Fla.  in  1865,  and  Jenkins  in 
1865 :  Florida  Union,  Feb.  22,  1868.  Dennis  came  to  Fla.  in  1866 : 
{Ku  Klux),  V.  13,  pp.  267,  270.  Osborn  came  to  Fla.  in  1865: 
Floridian,  June  23,  1868.  Gleason  came  to  Fla.  in  1866:  Floridian, 
July  7,  1868 ;  Fla.  Reports,  1868,  ouster  case  of  Lt.  Gov.  Gleason.  Alden 
came  to  Fla.  in  1865  or  6  ( ?)  :  Floridian,  Nov.  3.  1868;  N.  Y.  World, 
Nov.  3,  1868.  Hamilton  came  to  Fla.  in  1864:  (Ku  Klux),  v.  13,  pp. 
281,  285;  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  298,  ZZ7-  Billings 
came  to  Fla.  in  1863  with  the  army:  Off.  Reds.  RebelL,  s.  i,  v.  14.  pp. 
232,  238-9,  860-61.  Stearns  came  to  Fla.  in  1865  or  6:  (Ku  Klux),  v. 
13.  P-  75-  Bisbee  came  to  Fla.  in  1865 :  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Fla.,  v.  i, 
p.  441;  (Ku  Klux),  V.  13,  pp.  305-8. 


478  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  prospective  triumph  of  a  radical  Congress  during 
1866,  and  its  definitive  triumph  the  year  following  in  en- 
franchising the  blacks  through  the  Reconstruction  Laws, 
developed  the  white  wing  of  the  Radical  party  South. 
Backed  by  negro  votes  it  could  amount  to  something  locally. 
The  native  white  Republican  of  Florida — termed  by  oppo- 
nents "  scalawag  " — found  at  first  that  leadership  of  the 
negroes  was  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  late  arrivals  from, 
the  North,  for  very  actually, 

"  From  New  Hampshire's  green  mountains, 

From  Old  Nantucket's  strand, 
From  Lake  Ontario's  fountains, 

And  Huron's  golden  sands, 
From  Old  Wisconsin's  River 

And  famed  Iowa's  plains, 
They  were  there  to  deliver 

The  state  to  negro  chains. 

"  They  love  the  spicy  breezes 

That  blow  from  Afric's  shore, 
A  scent  that  so  well  pleases. 

Who  would  not  long  for  more? 
Thick  lips  and  coal-black  faces 

The  gifts  of  God  are  shown; 
They'll  take  these  dusky  races 

And  mingle  with  their  own. 

"  Should  those  whose  souls  are  lighted 

From  wisdom  from  On  High 
Wait  still  to  be  invited 

Before  they  hither  fly? 
When  offces  are  waiting 

And  plunder  is  to  reap? 
Not  at  the  present  stating, 

When  carpet-bags  are  cheap."  ^ 

The  record  of  the  Republican  convention  at  Tallahassee 
showed  unmistakably  a  split  in  the  party's  ranks.     The 

»  "  The  Song  of  the  Carpet-Bagger,"  N.  Y.  World,  Sept.  30,  1868, 
with  slight  changes. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  LOCAL  PARTIES  479 

Radical  papers  of  Jacksonville — the  Times  and  the  Union 
— confirmed  the  truth  by  their  editorials.^  A  fight  was  on 
between  "  scalawag  "  and  "  carpet-bagger  ".  Numerically 
neither  class  was  large.  Less  than  500  Northern  Repub- 
licans and  maybe  1,500  ''  scalawags  "  is  a  safe  estimate.^ 

The  Conservative  white  wished  each  class  to  destroy  the 
other.  He  considered  the  average  "  Yankee "  South  a 
meddlesome  interloper  spreading  pernicious  social  doc- 
trine and  bent  on  selfish  gain  from  politics.  He  did  not 
see  in  him  merely  a  new  neighbor  (as  he  would  to-day) 
needing  help  to  get  on  his  feet,  seeking  probably  an  honest 
living,  and  wishing  friends  among  his  own  race  in  a  strange 
land.  He  detested  the  native  white  Republican  about  as 
much  as  he  did  the  "  Yankee  ".  In  him  he  saw  not  simply 
an  old  Southern  neighbor  who  might  honestly  and  respect- 
ably dififer  from  Conservatives  on  political  questions — as, 
for  instance,  Democrat  had  differed  from  Whig  before  the 
war — but  a  turncoat,  a  "  disgraceful  nigger-lover  "  who 
was  recreant  to  his  race  and  who  sought  political  prefer- 
ment at  any  cost. 

"  All  men  have  the  undoubted  right  in  our  country  to 
think  and  act  for  themselves  on  all  political  questions,"  de- 
clared one  Florida  "  scalawag  "  in  publicly  defending  his 
position.  He  might  have  added :  "  But  they  do  so  now  at 
their  peril.  South  and  North  ".    What  he  did  add  was :  "  In 

*  FJoridian,  Sept.  6,  1867. 

•  An  estimate  based  upon  the  following  estimates  and  discussions : 
Floridian,  Nov.  19  and  Dec.  3,  1867;  N.  Y.  Hera'd,  Dec.  2,  1867 
(Jacksonville  letter)  ;  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  219; 
Judge  Long  said  in  1871  that  previous  to  the  last  election  (1870)  it 
was  calculated  that  "  about  400  or  500  Northern  men  "  were  "  Republi- 
cans "  and  "about  1500  or  1600  Southern  men."  The  white  wing  of 
the  Republican  Party  was  more  numerous  in  1869-70  than  in  1867. 
Only  1220  white  votes  (about  1000  were  Republican)  were  cast  in  the 
election  of  1868. 


480  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

defending  the  exercise  of  this  right  one  who  is  in  the  minor- 
ity may  be  as  sincere  and  upright  in  the  belief  he  entertains 
as  his  neighbor  who  happens  to  be  in  the  majority."  ^  This 
is  a  platitude  and  meant  nothing  vital  here.  The  fact  that 
the  scalawag  and  carpet-bagger  were  often  leaders  "  in  the 
majority  "  composed  mainly  of  blacks  had  something  to  do 
with  their  being  assailed  so  hotly  by  fellow  whites  who  were 
"  in  the  minority  ".  When  the  majority  became  tyrannical 
and  corrupt  the  minority  became  correspondingly  more 
bitter  and  uncompromising. 

Many  a  worthy  "  Yankee "  who  settled  in  the  South 
after  the  war  was  received  coldly  by  his  Southern  white 
neighbors.  The  Florida  carpet-bagger  was  about  right 
when  he  testified  before  the  Reconstruction  Committee  in 
1866:  "They  [Southern  white  Conservatives]  have  a 
bitter  aversion  to  what  they  term  a  Yankee ;  that  is  a  Union 
man."  ^  This  was  part  of  the  war's  heritage.  A  new- 
comer from  the  North  was  usually  persona  non  grata.  To 
be  reputed  a  Republican  was  to  be  reputed  an  enemy  of 
the  Conservative  white,  and  therefore  in  the  eyes  of  many 
Conservative  whites,  an  enemy  of  the  white  race. 

Now  when  politics  complicated  matters,  when  white  men 
came  out  openly  in  the  South  as  the  henchmen  of  the  Radi- 
cal Republican  party  and  the  political  intimates  of  the 
black,  condemnation  by  the  Conservative  was  swift  and 
lasting.  Previous  coldness  became  social  ostracism.  "  I 
have  lived  here  seven  years,"  stated  Republican  Judge 
Archibald  of  Florida,  "  and  my  family  have  lived  here  for 
the  same  length  of  time  and  I  don't  remember  of  ever  being 

1  Floridian,  Jan.  4,  1867,  Open  letter  of  Jno.  W.  Price,  who  had  been 
a  "  Unionist "  during  the  war. 

2  Testimony  of  Jno.  W.  Recks,  Fed.  Customs  Collector,  Pensacola, 
before  Reconstruction  Committee,  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  30,  p.  I 
(Florida)  ;  also  see  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  133. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  LOCAL  PARTIES  481 

invited  into  a  Southern  gentleman's  house.  The  social 
relations  are  entirely  disconnected.  It  is  a  deliberate  plan 
to  ostracise  Northern  people  who  express  any  sentiments  in 
politics  favorable  to  the  Republican  party."  ^ 

Sometimes  in  the  midst  of  personal  misfortune  and 
trials,  when  help  and  sympathy  of  neighbors  were  desired 
and  needed,  the  Northerner  found  himself  and  his  family 
pathetically  alone.  "  My  wife  was  very  ill  for  many 
weeks,"  said  one  ex-carpet-bagger  to  me.  "  And  she  was 
burning  up  with  fever  and  the  white  neighbors  did  not 
come  to  see  her,  except  one  lady  with  a  kind  heart.  They 
left  us  to  the  niggers.  And  when  the  worst  had  happened 
and  it  was  time  to  carry  her  to  the  grave  only  me  and  the 
niggers  followed  the  coffin,"  ^ 

The  terms  "  carpet-bagger "  and  "  scalawag "  were 
loosely  applied  and  loaded  with  opprobrium  and  contempt. 
'"  Most  of  the  carpet-baggers  that  I  know  anything  about 
were  a  dirty  set — unscrupulous  and  pandered  to  the  ne- 
groes. They  mixed  with  blacks  on  terms  of  social  equal- 
ity," '  stated  a  Conservative  years  after,  and  the  record 
of  Reconstruction  substantiates  his  judgment. 

"  They  call  me  a  carpet-bagger,"  stated  an  inoffensive 
gentleman  from  Massachusetts.  "  The  term  applies  to 
those  who  come  down  here  and  sympathize  with  the  Re- 
publican party.     They  call  me  a  carpet-bagger  and  I  have 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  p.  277.  Archibald  was  from 
111.  The  mass  of  testimony  contained  in  this  document  and  in  the 
H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  supports  the  generalization  that 
Northern  Republicans  were  socially  ostracised. 

2  Personal  interview  of  the  author  with  a  one-time  carpet-bagger  of 
Escambia  Co.,  Fla. 

'  Personal  interview  of  the  author  with  a  Conservative  of  Pensa- 
•cola.  What  was  said  to  the  author  was  in  substance  repeated  in  Mari- 
anna,  Quincy,  and  Tallahassee  by  other  gentlemen  who  had  lived 
through  the  period  in  Fla.  They  presented  the  conservative  point  of 
view  years  after. 


482  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

not  the  least  disposition  to  run  for  an  office  and  gave  them 
to  understand  plainly  that  I  did  not  want  any  office;  that  I 
had  all  the  political  honors  I  wanted  in  the  North.  I  was 
Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Selectmen  in  the  town  of  Mai- 
den." ^  But  this  honor  did  not  lift  him  above  suspicion 
with  some  of  Florida's  ignorant.  He  hung  an  American 
flag  over  his  front  door  after  marching  in  a  Republican  pro- 
cession and  next  morning  received  a  note  saying :  "  Take 
your  God-damn  Yankee  flag  and  go  to  Hell."  ^  This  is  not 
a  very  fit  sentiment  but  the  times  were  not  very  fit  times. 

"  I  am  a  carpet-bagger,"  scribbled  some  passing  satirist 
in  depicting  the  situation  in  the  South, 

"  I've  a  brother  scalawag — 

Come  South  to  boast  and  swagger 
With  an  empty  carpet-bag, 

To  rob  the  whites  of  green-backs 
And  with  the  blacks  go  bunk 

And  change  my  empty  satchel 
For  a  full  sole-leather  trunk. 

I'm  some  on  constitution 
For  a  late  rebellious  stale; 

And  I'm  some  on  persecution 
Of  disloyal  men  I  hate; 

I'm  sotiie  at  nigger  meetings 
When  white  folks  aint  about; 

And  some  among  the  nigger  gals 
When  their  marms  don't  known  they're  out."  ^ 

The  white  Conservatives  sought  the  control  of  the  negro 
vote,  and  leaders  urged  whites  to  register.  Registration 
was  declared  to  be  the  duty  of  every  white  man,  "  It  is 
the  only  way  to  save  the  state.     It  is  his  duty."  *     Specu- 

*  Testimony  of  John  T.  Abbott  of  Jacksonville  before  the  Senate 
Committee  (U.  S.)  on  Privileges  and  Elections,  1876, — Sen.  Rpts., 
44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611.  pp.  299-300. 

'  Ihid.,  p.  299.    '  N.  Y.  World,  Sept.  30,  1867 — "  The  CarpetTBagger." 

*  Madison  County  Messenger,  Aug.  9,  1867;  Floridian,  June  21,  25, 
28,  1867. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  LOCAL  PARTIES  483 

lative  estimates  of  Conservative  and  Radical  strength  in 
the  coming  elections  were  anxiously  indulged  in.  Most 
of  the  whites  of  Florida  were  Conservative.  Before  many 
months  of  military  rule  had  passed  it  was  evident  that  most 
of  the  negroes  were  strongly  Republican.  The  Census  of 
i860  gave  the  number  of  whites  as  yy,y4y;  blacks,  62,677. 
By  a  special  state  census  of  1867  the  figures  stood — whites, 
81,994;  blacks,  72,666.^  Many  of  the  native  white  loyalists 
of  Florida  became  Republicans — "  scalawags  ".  The  size 
of  the  latter  class  was  variously  estimated  from  1,000  to 
2,000  voters.^  On  the  other  hand,  the  disfranchising  clause 
of  the  Military  Bill  would  greatly  reduce  Conservative 
registration.  It  was  commonly  estimated  that  one-fifth  of 
the  native  whites  would  be  disfranchised.*  These  condi- 
tions made  the  prospective  voting  strength  of  the  Radicals 
several  thousands  greater  than  that  of  the  Conservatives. 
Yet  by  controlling  the  negroes  in  a  populous  county  or  two 
the  Conservatives  could  win. 

Following  the  Union-Republican  convention  in  Talla- 
hassee the  Southern  whites  began  by  counties  to  organize 
the  "  Union-Conservative  party  "  on  a  basis  of  the  Recon- 
struction Acts  of  Congress.*  A  county  convention  was 
held  at  St.  Augustine  on  July  22nd,  and  another  at  Talla- 
hassee on  August  24th.  At  the  Tallahassee  meeting  reso- 
lutions were  adopted  which  declared  that  "  what  the  coun- 
try needs  is  peace."  The  people  were  asked  to  come  to- 
gether to  restore  the  state  government  on  a  platform  inde- 
pendent of  either  great  party,  and  based  solely  on  the  Re-^ 

^  Floridian  during  1867   (Census  reports  were  published  from  time 
to  time).     Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Florida,  v.  i,  p.  301. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  219. 

'  N.    Y.   World,   Sept.   30,   1867.     For   a  general   discussion   of   dis- 
franchisement under  the  Military  Bill  see  Rhodes,  U.  S.,  v.  6,  pp.  79-81. 

*  St.  Augustine  Examiner,  July  27,  1867;  An.  Cyclo.,  1867. 


484  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

construction  Acts  as  a  finality.  Some  of  the  clauses  of 
these  resolutions  were  taken  verbatim  from  the  letters  of 
General  Pope,  the  Federal  military  commander  of  the 
Third  District.  The  spirit  of  the  convention  was  one  of 
quick  and  ready  compliance  with  the  will  of  Congress,  To 
the  Radical  who  would  make  reconstruction  a  purging  and 
punitive  process,  there  was  something  exasperating  in  this. 
Blacks  and  whites  were  present  in  the  convention  hall.^ 

It  was  here  that  A.  J.  Peeler,  an  ex-slaveholder,  made  his 
opening  speech  in  this  locally  memorable  campaign  for  the 
control  of  the  black  as  a  voter.  He  was  an  effective  stump 
speaker  and  what  he  said  epitomizes  picturesquely  some  of 
the  views  of  the  Conservatives.  Referring  to  the  Union 
Leagues,  he  said  to  the  blacks  on  this  occasion : 

There  are  some  of  you  who  are  members  of  these  Leagues. 
How  did  you  join  them?  Was  it  at  a  meeting  like  this  in 
broad,  open  daylight?  No;  it  was  when  owls  were  hooting 
from  the  trees  in  the  swamps  and  bats  had  left  their  holes, 
that  away  off  in  some  obscure  nook  or  corner,  under  lock  and 
key,  you  were  made  to  swear  to  a  long  riggamarole  of  stuff 
that  you  did  not  understand,  and  then,  after  swearing  to  it,  you 
were  told  that  you  would  be  guilty  of  false  swearing  if  you 
did  not  keep  your  oath.  .  .  .  They  ["  Yankees  "]  say  that  they 
set  you  free.  Well,  then,  be  free.  They  are  afraid  to  trust 
you.  Why  do  they  skulk  about  in  the  dark  unless  they  know 
their  cause  will  not  stand  the  light?  .  .  .  What  have  these 
Radicals  done  for  you  since  they  set  you  free?  In  the  first 
place,  they  have  made  you  pay  three  cents  a  pound  on  cotton, 
when  they  knew  that  you  would  have  to  sweat  in  the  hot  sun 
and  make  it  in  cotton  fields.  If  you  raise  four  bales  of  cotton, 
the  tax  is  $50.00.^ 

*  Floridian,  Aug.  27,  1867.  150  black  and  white  "  delegates "  were 
present.  The  convention  met  in  the  county  court  house,  which  was 
packed  with  specta'ors.  Thos.  Randall  was  chosen  president  of  the 
body.     He  was  said  to  be  a  brother  of  the  Postmaster-General. 

'  Flnridian,  Aug.  30,  1867.     Peeler  opposed  the  policy  of  Benj.  Hill 


ORGANIZATION  OF  LOCAL  PARTIES  485 

Mass-meetings  participated  in  by  negroes  and  white  Con- 
servatives were  held  at  Crawfordville,  Waukeena,^  Monti- 
cello,  and  Tallahassee  ^ — all  in  the  most  populous  portion 
of  Central  Florida.  Whites  and  blacks  spoke.  The  whites 
reiterated  promises  of  equal  political  rights  for  the  two 
races.  The  blacks  not  infrequently  became  violent  in  their 
talk — "  impudent  ",  the  Southerner  calls  it — and  announced 
what  was  termed  "  Wendell  Philips  Doctrine  ",  which  was 
that  the  property  of  the  one-time  masters  belonged  really 
to  the  one-time  slaves.®  Few  white  Republicans  spoke  in 
these  meetings. 

Peeler  was  a  prominent  figure  in  this  Middle  Florida 
stumping  contest.    At  Monticello  he  said : 

"Uncle,  who  is  Governor  of  Florida?"  (pointing  to  a  tall  col- 
ored man  in  the  crowd).  "Don't  know,  Sir."  "Who  is 
President  of  the  United  States?"  (Many  voices:  "Don't 
speak.")  "  Yes,  speak  and  answer  the  question."  "  Don't 
know,  sir."  "  Have  you  registered  ?"  "  Yes,  sir."  "  Going 
to  vote?"     "Yes,  sir." 

"  My  friends,  that  man  has  answered  for  nine-tenths  of 
you.  There  is  not  one  in  ten  in  this  vast  crowd  who  could 
have  answered  better.  There  is  Gen.  Whitfield  and  Squire 
Gadsden,  among  the  best  and  most  intelligent  men  in  the  South, 
who  are  not  allowed  to  vote.  .  .  .  There  are  three  reasons 
why,  if  you  support  Radicals,  you  cannot  get  employment  here 

of  Georgia.  He  began  his  speech  on  this  occasion  with  a  criticism  of 
Hill's  ideas.  For  the  Federal  cotton  tax,  see  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C, 
2nd  S.,  no.  2,  p.  5.  The  increase  by  Congress  of  the  tax  on  raw 
CO' ton  from  2  to  3  cents  per  pound  and  the  continuation  of  the  tax 
called  forth  strong  remonstrance  North  and  South.  Particularly  was 
it  protested  against  by  the  governors  of  some  of  the  Southern  states 
and  the  N.  Y.  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

'  Floridian,  Sept.  3  and  10,  1867.     Meetings  were  Aug.  31,  Sept.  2nd. 

2  Floridian,  Sept.  17,  24,  1867. 

•  As  for  instance  at  the  Waukeena  meeting,  Sept.  3,  1867. 


486  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

another  year,  (i)  Men  cannot  carry  on  their  farms  as  they 
have  been  doing  and  pay  the  taxes.  Jim,  would  you  be  in 
favor  of  hiring  a  man  who  was  in  favor  of  taxing  you  till  you 
were  ruined?  (2)  In  supporting  Radicals  you  are  the  sworn 
enemy  of  the  Southern  whites  of  this  country.  Would  you 
hire  a  man  on  your  plantation  that  you  knew  to  be  your  sworn 
enemy?"  "No,  sir"  (in  the  crowd).  "Neither  will  the 
whites.  You  secret-league  men  take  care  of  your  crop  for  the 
balance  of  the  year,  for  you  will  need  it  to  take  you  some- 
where else.  (3)  In  supporting  the  Radicals  you  are  in  favor 
of  robbery.  It  is  the  promise  of  robbery  (by  confiscation) 
that  has  carried  every  man  of  you  into  the  secret  leagues. 
Will  the  whites  hire  and  give  support  to  men  in  favor  of  such 
things?    .    .    . 

"  We  know  what  you  are  talking  and  doing.  You  are  drill- 
ing over  the  country.  You  say  the  Bureau  ordered  you  to 
organize  and  drill  so  as  to  be  ready  to  get  your  rights  this 
winter.  What  rights  do  you  want?  The  property  of  the 
whites?  You  intend  to  fight  for  it,  do  you?  .  .  .  Whenever 
you  get  ready  strike  the  blow,  and  you  will  see  the  hell  of  ruin 
into  which  your  Radical  teachers  have  brought  you." 

The  reference  to  "  drilling  "  and  "  striking  blows  "  was 
not  entirely  metaphorical.  The  blacks  were  beginning  to 
go  to  secret  meetings  under  arms.^ 

Floridian.  June  28,  1867.  Gen.  Order,  no.  30,  An.  Cyclo.,  1867. 
During  the  spring  and  summer  of  1867  lawlessness  and  ugly  behavior 
among  the  negroes  distinctly  increased.  For  instances :  Rape  of  a 
white  woman  by  black  near  Calahan  Station,  East  Florida,  A'^.  Y. 
World,  Oct.  5,  1867,  extract  from  Fernandina  Courier;  negro  mob 
breaks  windows  of  Yulee  house  at  Fernandina.  Gainesville  "New  Era" 
Sept.  21 ;  shooting  affray  between  blacks  and  whites,  Floridian,  Aug. 
9,  1867;  violent  entry  of  a  white  school  house  in  Leon  County  by  a 
party  of  blacks  in  search  of  a  black  who  was  known  as  a  "  con- 
servative" in  politics, — Madison  Messenger,  Aug.  9,  1867;  party  of 
blacks  try  to  force  entry  into  the  house  of  a  white  woman  in  Madison 
County  to  get  her  son  who  had  "  insulted  one  of  their  number " ; 
negroes  in  Madison  County  resist  in  a  body  attempts  by  a  deputy 
sheriff  to  arrest  one  of  them,  Madison  Mess.,  Aug.  9. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  LOCAL  PARTIES  487 

Peeler  continued: 

What  is  the  interest  of  both  blacks  and  whites?  One  cannot 
prosper  without  the  other,  and  whatever  is  injurious  to  one  is 
injurious  to  the  other.  The  whites  complain  that  they  are 
making  nothing.  Indeed,  they  cannot  and  pay  the  taxes  upon 
them.  [He  referred  to  Federal  taxes.]  You  say  you  work 
all  the  year  and  at  the  end  have  nothing.  Do  you  know  any 
poor  men  in  the  country  who  have  land  and  stock?  They 
work  much  harder  than  you  do.  Their  wives  and  daughters 
make  homespun — all  wear  homespun — spun  through  the  week 
— wear  home-made  shoes ;  and  yet  there  is  not  one  in  ten  who 
can  pay  his  debts.  They  don't  go  to  town  half  as  often  as 
you  do.  They  once  could  raise  their  meat — had  milk  and 
butter  all  the  year ;  but  now  since  "  freedom  "  their  cows  are 
killed,  their  hogs  are  gone.  They  find  it  hard  to  live.  You 
also  complain  that,  after  working  all  the  year,  you  have  little 
or  nothing  at  the  end  of  the  year.  I  will  tell  you  why.  You 
plough  in  $8.00  or  $10.00  high-heel  boots  and  wear  store 
clothes  good  enough  for  Sunday.  Your  wives  and  daughters 
sit  or  lie  about  the  doors  of  your  cabins,  dressed  in  calico, 
wearing  gaiter  shoes  with  red  tops,  that  cost  $4.00  to  $5.00  a 
pair.^ 

The  black  was  not  uneasy  then  over  such  prosaic  eco- 
nomic details  as  shoes  and  cotton.  Nor  did  the  possibility 
of  losing  his  job  throw  him  into  a  panic  of  Conservatism. 
He  was  interested  in  politics  and  "  gittin'  his  rights  ". 

Conservatives  came  together  in  a  state  convention  at 
Tallahassee  on  September  25th  and  26th.  The  meeting 
was  a  sad  warning  of  the  party's  future.  Only  five  coun- 
ties were  represented — Leon,  Wakulla,  Columbia,  Jeffer- 
son, and  St.  Johns.  The  number  of  delegates  was  small 
but  not  confined  to  Southern  whites.  Some  negroes  were 
present.     The  permanent  chairman,  Major  Van  Ess  of  St. 

'  Floridian,  Sept.  17,  1867. 


488  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Augustine,  had  been  an  officer  in  the  Federal  army  during 
the  late  war.^ 

The  native  whites  were  not  exhibiting  interest  in  regis- 
tering. From  Walton  County,  West  Florida,  came  the  re- 
port: "I  fear  this  class  (negroes,  carpet-baggers,  and 
scalawags)  will  control  the  county  unless  a  greater  interest 
can  be  awakened."  "  What  is  true  of  Walton  is  true  of 
most  of  the  counties  in  the  state,"  announced  the  Floridianr 

At  the  end  of  the  first  week  of  August  the  blacks  had  re- 
gistered in  Jackson  County  twelve  to  the  whites  one;  in 
Leon,  eleven  to  one;  in  Jefferson,  ten  to  one,  and  so  on.^ 
Why?  Contemporary  local  opinion  was  that  "the  whites 
do  not  register  because  they  are  disgusted  with  Reconstruc- 
tion and  have  given  up  the  fight,"  *  and  "  because  of  the 
general  impression  that  from  the  power  given  the  registra- 
tors, who  are  bitter  partisans,  they  will  be  denied  the  right 
of  registering."  ^  Many  whites  were  too  busy  wringing  a 
meager  living  from  exhausted  farms  to  give  much  time  to 
politics.  Others  were  deterred  by  a  respectful  sympathy 
with  those  disqualified  by  Federal  law  from  voting ;  for  hun- 
dreds of  the  best  citizens  in  the  state  were  disfranchised. 
Others  disliked  the  personal  contact  with  crowds  of  negroes 
at  the  points  of  registration,  or  haughtily  refused  to  ap- 
pear before  a  board  on  which  sat  former  slaves.® 

'  Floridian,  Sept.  27,  1867;  An.  Cyclo.,  1S67. 

•  Floridian,  Aug.  9,  1867.  The  date  of  the  report  from  Walton  Co. 
was  July  30. 

•  Floridian,  Aug.  9,  and  Sept.  17,  1867. 

•  Floridian,  Sept.  24,  1867. 

•  Floridian,  Sept.  20,  1867. 

•  Floridian,  Aug.  2  and  Sept.  2,  1867.  For  instance  a  letter  from 
Quincy  stated :  "  They  [whites]  cannot  see  the  efficacy  of  their  now 
mingling  in  this  dirty  work,  as  they  consider  it,  or  that  any  good  will 
result  from  their  making  any  issues  or  stand  against  the  radical  inter- 
lopers among  them.    But  I  do  not  think  the  masses  of  the  people  real- 


ORGANIZATION  OF  LOCAL  PARTIES  489 

Was  it  lack  of  public  spirit,  and  the  existence  of  race 
prejudice,  pride  and  sentimental  sympathy  for  the  disfran- 
chised that  forced  the  whites  on  toward  losing  control  of 
the  state — an  impasse  that  the  thoughtful  man  shuddered 
over? 

If  the  Conservatives  were  lethargic,  their  opponents  were 
the  opposite.  With  increasing  aggressiveness  they  pushed 
on  their  campaign.  Their  most  prominent  "  stumper  "  was 
Liberty  Billings.  He  and  his  friends  had  joined  the  Os- 
born  faction  in  beating  Colonel  Hart  and  the  Southern 
loyalist  element  at  the  state  convention.  Now  he,  the  negro 
Saunders,  and  the  ex-treasury  agent  Richards  made  a  tour 
of  the  central  and  western  portions  of  the  state.  Mass- 
meetings  of  negroes  in  Pensacola,^  Quincy,^  Tallahassee,' 
and  Lake  City,*  listened  to  the  violent  and  aggressive  talk 
of  Billings  and  his  associates. 

The  issues  in  the  campaign  as  presented  by  Radical 
leaders  were  sweeping  and  not  burdened  with  con- 
structive details.  The  "  f  reedmen  "  must  unite  in  driv- 
ing the  Southern  white  from  control  of  the  govern- 
ment; the  government  must  be  made  over  in  such  a 
fashion  that  the  "  freedmen "  would  have  their  rights. 
Radical  meetings  were  often  in  negro  churches.  Religion 
and  politics  were  strangely  blended  by  the  negro  during 
Reconstruction.     At  Quincy,  Billings  declared  that  "  Radi- 

ize  the  nature  of  the  political  contest  soon  to  be  enacted  in  their  midst. 
The  people  seem  averse  10  meetings  of  any  kind  and  appear  rather  dis- 
posed to  leave  the  track  open  to  the  Radicals,"  etc. 

*  Floridian,  Sept.  6, 1867  (Billings  might  not  have  spoken  at  Pensacola). 

*  Floridian,  Oct.,  8,  1867.    Billings  declared  here  that  the  "  principles  " 
of  the  Republican  Party  were  "  homesteads  for  negroes  and  equali;y." 

*  Floridian,  Sept.,  24,  1867. 

*  Floridian,  Sept.,  6,   1867.    Union-Republicans  met  also  at  Tampa, 
see  Floridian,  Sept.  13,  1867. 


490 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


calism  was  rights  but  conservatism,  sin."  At  the  same 
meeting  another  white  Radical  speaker  declared  that  the 
colored  people  could  get  along  better  without  the  whites 
than  the  whites  without  the  colored  people.  "  Nothing  is 
thought  of  the  inter-marriage  between  races  in  Canada,"  he 
said  (received  with  great  applause  by  the  negroes).  It  was 
such  talk  as  this  that  developed  a  sinister  aspect  to  the 
social  question  involved  in  Reconstruction.  "  Billings  is 
no  fool,"  observed  the  Floridian.  "  The  present  speaking 
tour  is  for  his  own  interest."  ^  His  object  was  to  control 
personally  the  constitutional  convention  by  becoming 
popular  and  powerful  among  the  negroes. 

^Floridian.  Oct.,  ii,  1867. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
The  Constitutional  Convention  of  1868 

By  order  of  General  Pope  the  election  in  Florida  of 
members  to  the  constitutional  convention  was  held  during 
the  days  of  November  14th,  15th,  and  i6th/  The  registra- 
tion boards  sat  during  the  first  week  of  October  for  the 
final  revision  of  registration  lists.^  Some  names  ,had  been 
added  and  some  stricken  off.  The  registrars  became  elec- 
tion officers  or  "  judges  "  at  the  polls  in  the  election  which 
followed.  As  each  man  deposited  his  ballot  the  judge 
"  checked  in  ink  "  the  name  of  the  individual  voting  from 
the  list  of  registered  voters  which  lay  before  him.  Each 
voter  was  required  to  subscribe  to  an  oath  and  establish  his 
identity  in  the  presence  of  judges  of  election  ere  he  was  al- 
lowed to  deposit  his  ballot.  The  ballots  were  collected  at 
the  county  seats  and  consolidated  returns  sent  in  to  registra- 
tion headquarters  in  Jacksonville  by  the  judges  of  election.' 
Beyond  the  important  fact  that  most  of  the  election  officials 
were  pronounced  and  bitter  Republican  partisans,  this  ar- 
rangement seems  to  have  been  fair  to  all. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1867.  During  the  few  weeks  immediately  preceding 
the  election  mass  meetings  of  Radicals  and  Conservatives  were  held  in 
various  counties  over  the  State  to  nominate  delegates  and  perfect  or- 
ganizations for  the  elections.     See  Floridian,  Nov.  5  and  12,  1867. 

*  In  this  revision  of  registration  lists  766  white  voters  were  added 
and  655  blacks,  making  the  total  registered  vote  28,003.  Compare  with 
table  in  Rhodes,  v.  6,  p.  83. 

*  Report  of  Secy,  of  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  p.  105;  An.  Cyclo.,  1867, 
Circular  8. 

491 


492  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  result  at  the  polls  was  14,503  votes  cast,  of  which 
14,300  were  for  a  convention.  The  total  number  of  regis- 
tered voters  was  28,003.  This  meant  that  501  voters  more 
than  a  majority  had  taken  part  in  the  election.^  The  de- 
cision, therefore,  at  the  polls — though  dependent  on  a  close 
margin — was  for  the  assembling  in  constitutional  conven- 
tion of  those  persons  elected.  The  Federal  law  stipulated 
that  in  each  state  if  the  majority  of  the  registered  voters 
cast  their  ballot  the  result  of  the  election  was  to  stand.^ 
Congress  had  as  yet  not  seen  fit  to  repudiate  this  law. 

The  mass  of  the  whites  had  refrained  from  voting.  Only 
1,220  white  votes  were  cast,  of  which  203  were  against  the 
convention's  assembling.^  One  individual  had  endorsed  his 
ballot :  "  I  don't  give  a  damn  whether  the  convention  is 
held  or  not."  *  If  all  Conservative  whites  had  voted,  the 
net  result  would  not  have  been  different.  The  Conserva- 
tive party  had  succeeded  neither  in  making  Conservative 
voters  of  the  negroes  nor  in  otherwise  preventing  them 
from  voting  the  Republican  ticket.     The  totality  of  regis- 

^  An.  Cycle,  1867;  Wallace,  Carpetbag  Rule,  p.  49;  A'^.  Y.  World, 
Dec.  14,  1867.  The  World's  figures  vary  slightly  from  other  sources. 
Wallace  varies  from  An.  Cyclo's  figures. 

*  McPherson,  Reconstruction,  p.  193,  Sec.  3. 

'  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Nov.  19  and  29,  1867 ;  Floridian,  Nov.  19  and  26, 
1867.  The  Floridian  presents  the  following  analysis  of  the  vote  in 
Duval  County.  "Of  the  white  voters  35  or  over  ^  are  residents  here 
of  less  than  5  years;  11  are  residents  of  more  than  5  years;  and  only 
8  are  Southern  born.  Fourteen  of  the  Northerners  are  Federal  offi- 
cers; 10  ex-officers  in  the  United  States  Army;  3  or  4  deserters  from 
the  Confederate  army;  and  3  or  4  those  who  furnished  supplies  to  the 
Confederate  army  for  war  purposes.  It  is  proper  to  say  that  some 
voted  because  of  personal  friendship  to  Col.  Hart,  protesting  against 
the  whole  scheme.  None  of  the  Jews  voted  and  but  one  or  two 
negroes  free  before  the  War."  Editor  Dyke  obtained  these  figures 
from  the  Charleston  Mercury  of  Nov.  19. 

*  Floridian,  Nov.  19,  1867. 


THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1868       493 

tered  white  voters  was  too  small  to  have  carried  the  elec- 
tion against  the  negro  alignment. 

"  The  result  of  the  election  in  Florida  is  marked  and  sig- 
nificant in  the  extreme,"  stated  the  Savannah  Republican 
shortly  after  the  result  was  known. 

It  is  characteristic  of  the  public  mind  even  in  that  state  which 
has  been  relatively  undisturbed  by  social  outrage  and  excite- 
ment. The  white  Republicans  in  the  State  number  about 
2,000,  including  the  native  Union  element,  .  .  .  and  about  one- 
half  of  them  are  said  to  have  voted  in  the  election.  .  .  .  The 
Billings  Radicals  elected  but  13  delegates  to  the  Convention, 
the  Straight  Republicans  31,  and  the  Conservatives  2,^ 

Forty-six  delegates  were  actually  returned  in  this  elec- 
tion. Eighteen  of  them  were  negroes,  and  three  of  these 
negroes  were  citizens  of  other  states.  Of  the  twenty-seven 
whites,  one  or  two  were  Conservatives,  fifteen  or  sixteen 
Radical  carpet-baggers  from  the  North,  and  ten  or  twelve 
Southern  loyalist  or  "  scalawags  ".^ 

*  Quotation  in  Floridian,  Dec.  3,  1867.  See  also  letter  from  Jackson- 
ville, a;  Y.  Herald,  Dec.  2,  1867. 

*  Florida  Union,  Nov.  30,  1867;  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  49-50;  Rerick, 
Memoirs  of  Fla.,'v.  i,  p.  103  (inaccurate  figures)  ;  N.  Y.  Times,  Dec. 
I,  1867;  Floridian,  Nov.  19,  1867;  Report  Secy.  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  p.  93. 

The  delegates  elected  were  as  follows:  ist  Dist.  (Escambia  and  Santa 
Rosa  Cos.)  Geo.  W.  Walker,  Conservative,  seat  contested  and  not  ad- 
mitted; Geo.  J.  Alden  (Carpet-bagger),  Lyman  W.  Rowley  (Radical, 
came  into  Florida  from  North  before  War).  2nd  Dist.  (Walton  and 
Holmes  Cos.)  J.  L.  Campbell  (Conservative).  3rd  Dist.  (Washington, 
Calhoun  and  Jackson  Cos.),  W.  J.  Purman  (Carpet-bagger);  L.  C. 
Armistead;  E.  Fortune  (negro);  Homer  Bryan  (negro).  4th  Dist. 
(Gadsden  Co.)  W.  M.  Saunders  (negro)  ;  Dan.  Richards  (Carpet- 
bagger) ;  Fred  Hill  (negro).  5th  Dist.  (Liberty  and  Franklin  Cos.) 
J.  W.  Childs  (Carpet-bagger).  6th  Dist.  (Leon  and  Wakulla  Cos.) 
T.  W.  Osborn  (Carpet-bagger);  Joe  Oats  (negro);  C.  H.  Pearce 
(negro)  ;  J.  Wyatt  (negro)  ;  Green  Davidson  (negro)  ;  O.  B.  Arm- 
strong (negro).  7ih  Dist.  (Jefferson  Co.)  J.  W.  Powell;  A.  G.  Bass; 
Robt.   Meacham   (negro);  Anthony  Mills   (negro).    8th  Dist.    (Mad- 


494  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

What  were  the  obvious  characteristics  of  these  delegates 
chosen  by  the  newly  enfranchised?  The  subtler  side  of 
their  personalities  is  probably  now  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
investigator  engaged  in  historical  research.  They  have 
left  little  record  behind  them. 

Several  of  the  negro  members  were  unlettered — unable 
to  read  or  to  write.  Two  or  three  of  the  blacks  had  evil 
reputations,  and  would  have  done  better  in  jail  than  in 
legislative  halls.  Of  the  whites,  the  native  Union  or  loyal- 
ist element  was  made  up  of  men  of  no  particular  reputation 
— good  or  bad — and  of  mediocre  enlightenment.  The  car- 
pet-bag or  Northern  element — composing  about  one-third 
of  the  delegates — contained  some  men  of  considerable  intel- 
ligence and  passable  education.  The  most  cultured  member 
of  the  convention,  probably,  was  Jonathan  Gibbs,  a  negro. 

Gibbs  was  a  tall  and  slightly-built  black  with  a  high  fore- 
head and  a  color  indicating  mulatto  origin.  His  voice  was 
clear  and  ringing.  He  possessed  some  of  the  qualities  of  a 
born  orator  and  a  genuine  sentimentalist.  He  was  not  a 
native  of  the  South.  Born  in  Philadelphia,  educated  at  Dart- 
mouth College  and  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  he 
was  a  fairly  successful  type  of  an  intelligent  black  subjected 

ison  Co.)  R.  T.  Rambauer;  Major  Johnson  (negro);  Wm.  R.  Cone. 
9th  Dist.  (Hamilton  and  Suwanee  Cos.)  Thos.  Urquhart  (negro) ;  W. 
J.  J.  Duncan.  loth  Dist.  (Taylor  and  Lafayette  Cos.)  J.  N.  Krim- 
minger.  nth  Dist.  (Alachua  Co.)  Wm.  J.  Cessna  (Carpet-bagger)  ; 
J.  T.  Walls  (negro)  ;  Horatio  Jenkins,  Jr.  (Carpet-bagger),  j^th  Dist. 
(Columbia  and  Baker  Cos.)  S.  B.  Conover  (Carpet-Bagger)  ;  Auburn 
Erwin  (negro).  J3th  Dist.  (Bradford  and  Clay  Cos.)  J.  C.  Richards 
(Conservative).  14th  Dist.  (Nassau,  Duval  and  St.  John  Cos.),  N.  C. 
Dennett  (Carpet-bagger) ;  J.  C.  Gibbs  (negro)  ;  Wm.  Bradwell 
(negro)  ;  Liberty  Billings  (Carpet-bagger).  15th  Dist.  (Putnam  and 
Levy  Cos.)  J.  H.  Goss;  A.  Chandler  (negro);  W.  Rogers;  E.  D. 
Howse.  J6th  Dist.  (Sumter  and  Hernando  Cos.)  Sam  J.  Pierce. 
17th  Dist.  (Hillsborough,  Polk  and  Manatee  Cos.)  C.  R.  Mobley. 
i8th  Dist.  (Valusia,  Orange,  Brevard,  and  Dade  Cos.)  David  Magelle. 
TQth  Dist.  (Munroe  Co.)  E.  L.  Ware. 


THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1868 


495 


to  the  influence  of  American  theological  training  and  New 
England  culture/  Gibbs  had  been  sent  into  the  state  from 
the  North  for  philanthropic  work  among  the  negroes.^  He 
soon  entered  politics  and  was  ere  long  rubbing  shoulders 
with  cantankerous  and  thieving  ignorance.  If  he  had  con- 
tinued preaching  in  the  North — for  he  was  a  Presbyterian 
divine — he  might  have  missed  political  experience,  but  also 
might  have  been  spared  the  sad  gastronomic  end  which  was 
his.  He  died  before  the  end  of  Republican  rule,  osten- 
sibly from  eating  too  heavy  a  dinner.  It  was  rumored  that 
he  was  poisoned  by  fellow  Republicans.' 

In  contrast  to  Gibbs  were  such  negroes  as  Emanuel  For- 
tune, a  barely  literate  negro  shoemaker  who  belligerently 
insisted  on  making  speeches  when  the  occasion  did  or  did 
not  offer  itself ;  *  Green  Davidson,  a  violent  barber-poli- 
tician, given  to  incendiary  talk  about  social  equality  between 
the  races  and  political  rights;  Joe  Oats,  a  mulatto  of  intelli- 
gence, of  rascally  practice,  and  of  suave  tongue;  Robert 
Meacham,  a  mulatto,  an  intelligent  though  troublesome 
man,  and  a  living  example  of  the  shame  of  the  South.  His 
white  father  had  been  his  master.  Robert  was  reared  as  a 
domestic  servant.  Like  many  of  the  house  servants  he  be- 
came a  preacher.^  After  the  war  he  made  a  local  reputa- 
tion as  a  marital  auxiliary  among  his  people,  boasting  that 
he  had  married  300  couples  since  "  freedom  drapt  ".  "     An- 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  220.    Letter  of  Solon 
Robinson,  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  10,  1868.     Wallace,  op.  cit.,  passim. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  221,  223.    According 
to  his  testimony  he  came  into  Florida  in  1867. 

'  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  299. 

*  See  various  newspaper  reports  of  Convention's  proceedings.    Also 
H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  95. 

*  Floridian,  Jan.  21,  1868;  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.   13, 
pp.  101-9. 

*  Floridian,  Feb.  5,  1867. 


496  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

other  black  preacher  was  Charles  H.  Pearce,  Bishop  Pearce 
he  was  called — a  power  in  prayer  meetings  and  politics, 
popular  with  the  women,  said  at  the  time  to  be  a  citizen  of 
Canada,  and  later  convicted  in  court  for  accepting  bribes  as 
a  legislator.^  "  Colonel  "  William  U.  Saunders,  known  as 
the  "  Baltimore  negro  ",  an  ex-barber,  proved  to  be  the 
most  prominent  negro  politician  in  the  convention  as  well 
as  one  of  the  shrewdest  and  withal  most  dangerous  men 
there.     He  was  reputed  to  be  a  citizen  of  Maryland.^ 

A  type  of  Southern  loyalist  or  "scalawag"  was  William 
R.  Cone.  From  his  own  history,  which  he  took  occasion  to 
relate  rather  proudly,  he  had  been  lacking  in  definite  prin- 
ciples during  the  late  war.  He  had  avoided  as  long  as 
possible  enlistment  in  the  Confederate  army  and  at  his  first 
opportunity  had  deserted.^  The  history  of  J.  N.  Krim- 
minger,  white,  of  North  Carolina,  a  delegate  from  Alachua 
County,  was  similar.     He  too  had  been  a  deserter.* 

As  a  class,  the  carpet-baggers  were  intellectually  the  best 
men  among  the  delegates.  W.  J.  Purman,  Thomas  W.  Os- 
born,  and  Horatio  Jenkins  were  leaders  of  this  class.  The 
last  two  were  ex-officers  of  the  Union  army.^  Most  of  the 
Northerners  had  been  in  the  state  for  a  year  or  more  and 
were  bona-Hde  citizens  of  the  commonwealth.  Daniel 
Richards  and  Liberty  Billings  were  exceptions.  Richards 
is  described  by  a  contemporary  Republican  as  a  "  sort  of 

•  N.  Y.  Herald,  Feb.  19  and  20,  1868;  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S., 
no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  387;  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  165 
and  299. 

•  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  44,  54,  60. 

•  Floridian,  Jan.  21,  1868. 

•  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  176-7. 

•  Ibid.,  pp.  144-5 ;  Floridian,  June  23,  1868 ;  Florida  Union,  Feb.  22, 
1868. 


THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1868 


497 


Uriah  Heep  specimen  of  Northern  carpet-bagger  of  moder- 
ate abihty  and  elastic  conscience  "/ 

All  in  all,  these  prospective  constitution  makers  bade  fair 
to  be  rather  a  motley  assemblage,  even  to  an  optimist. 
Crass  ignorance,  inexperience,  aggressiveness,  vulgarity  and 
a  mixture  of  colors  v^ere  their  most  protuberant  character- 
istics. Seven  of  the  eighteen  negro  members  were  ministers 
of  the  Gospel.  It  was  patent  that  average  enlightenment 
and  honesty  were  more  than  balanced  by  stupidity  and  dis- 
honesty. In  this  supreme  council  elected  under  Federal 
supervision  to  fashion  the  state's  political  destinies,  fair- 
ness and  experience  were  deeply  shadowed  by  prejudices 
and  ignorance.  Florida's  government  was  degraded  at  the 
hands  of  the  United  States. 

Unable  to  accomplish  anything  at  the  polls  and  having 
failed  legally  to  kill  the  convention  proposition  by  refrain- 
ing from  voting,  the  Conservative  leaders  attempted  as  a 
dernier  ressort  to  hold  up  the  assembling  of  the  body  by 
preferring  charges  of  fraud  at  the  election.  General  Pope 
had  been  succeeded  by  General  Meade  as  commander  of  the 
Third  Military  District.^  It  was  hoped  by  Conservatives 
that  Meade  might  revoke  the  orders  of  his  predecessor. 
Charges  of  fraud  in  "  gerrymandering  "  the  state  into  un- 
fair election  districts,  and  of  irregularity  and  fraud  in  vot- 
ing were  laid  before  the  new  commander,  Meade,  by  a 
committee  sent  to  Atlanta  from  Florida  for  that  purpose.* 
Meade  telegraphed  Grant  for  advice.     Grant  in  reply  from 

'  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  54. 

*  Rpt.  of  Secy,  of  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  p.  74,  assigned  to  Third  District, 
Dec.  28,  1867 ;  An.  Cyclo.,  1868.  Pope  was  not  popular  with  the  whites 
of  Florida. 

•  Rpt.  of  Secy,  of  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  p.  86,  Meade  to  Grant,  Jan.  15, 
1868.  An.  Cyclo.,  1868;  N.  Y.  World,  Jan.  23.  1868;  N.  Y.  Times.  Dec. 
I,  1868 — Meade's  report.  Judge  Douglas  of  the  state  supreme  court 
was  the  committee. 


498  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Washington  told  him  to  use  his  discretion.    Meade  decided 
not  to  interfere/ 

Had  there  been  fraud  in  the  elections?  Were  the  Con- 
servative charges  honest?  The  entire  election  machinery 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  Republican  party.  At  the  polls  in 
Tampa,  in  Bayport  and  in  Lafayette  County  came  reports 
that  ballot-boxes  had  been  tampered  with  to  insure  Repub- 
lican victory.  In  Jackson  County  Conservatives  testified 
that  crowds  of  negroes  from  Alabama  had  been  brought 
into  the  state  to  vote,  and  did  vote.^  To-day  no  good  docu- 
mentary evidence  is  extant  demonstrating  that  fraud  was 

^  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  40lh  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  30,  pp.  7-18.  A^.  Y.  World. 
Sept.  5,  1868,  letter  from  Tallahassee;  A^.  Y.  World,  Nov.  4,  1867,  dis- 
cussion of  false  registration  in  Florida. 

Meade's  message  to  Grant  on  Jan.  15  was  as  follows :  "  Gen.  U.  S. 
Grant:  The  Governor  of  Florida  has  laid  before  me  and  endorsed 
the  same  a  petition  numerously  signed  asking  that  the  order  of  Gen. 
Pope  calling  together  the  Con'stitutional  Convention  on  the  20th  be 
suspended  for  a  period  sufficiently  long  to  enable  me  to  decide  on  the 
questions  raised  by  them  invalidating  the  election  of  the  members. 
The  points  raised  are  the  violation  of  the  election  laws  by  Gen.  Pope : 
I.  In  the  manner  of  districting  the  state;  2.  In  the  registration  there- 
of; 3.  In  the  conduct  of  the  elections.  There  is  no  time  for  me  to 
deliberately  examine  these  points,  but  there  is  prima  facie  evidence 
justifying  me  in  the  belief  that  perhaps,  according  to  my  judgment, 
the  Reconstruction  laws  have  not  been  strictly  adhered  to,  at  least 
there  are  grave  questions  raised.  Under  this  view  I  am  disposed  to 
postpone  the  meeting  of  the  Convention  for  thirty  days,  but  in  this  as 
in  all  cases  refrain  from  acting  until  advised  that  you  do  not  dis- 
approve my  proposed  action."  Grant  replied  immediately  by  telegraph : 
"Act  according  to  your  own  judgment  about  postponing  the  Conven- 
tion". Meade  refused  to  postpone  it  but  the  next  day  (Jan.  17)  tele- 
graphed Grant  practically  asking  him  to  withdraw  any  power  which  he 
(Meade)  might  have  in  the  matter.  Accordingly,  Grant  replied  (Jan. 
17)  :  "  Gen.  Pope  having  practically  settled  the  matter  complained  of 
by  his  action  before  you  assumed  command  of  the  Third  District,  it 
is  deemed  judicious  not  to  interfere  with  the  meeting  of  the  Conven- 
tion at  the  time  ordered  by  him  but  leave  the  whole  matter  to  Congress 
for  its  final  action  ".    Rpt.  of  Secy,  of  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  pp.  86-88. 

*  Floridian,  Dec.  24,  1867. 


THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1868 


499 


resorted  to.  There  was  irregularity.  Daniel  Richards  and 
William  Saunders,  for  instances,  were  both  elected  as  dele- 
gates from  Gadsden  County  where  they  had  spent  only  a 
few  days  of  their  lives. ^  J.  W.  Childs  was  sent  from 
Franklin  County  while  evidence  indicates  that  his  home  was 
in  Baker  County.^  Liberty  Billings  was  returned  from 
Nassau  County,  although  a  few  months  before  he  had  sub- 
scribed to  an  affidavit  that  he  was  a  citizen  of  New  Hamp- 
shire.® 

The  result  of  the  election  brought  out  an  expression  of 
public  intention  from  the  Conservative  Floridian  very  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  followed  the  passage  of  the  Mili- 
tary Bill  nine  months  earlier.  "  We  have  accepted  a  hard 
situation  within  the  last  three  years,"  it  said,  "  but  this  is 
a  situation  which  we  will  not  accept.  A  pure  African  gov- 
ernment for  the  State  of  Florida  will  not  he  accepted  hut 
will  he  disputed  and  contended  against  with  every  power 
that  God  has  given  us."  * 

The  contrast  is  sharp  between  the  foregoing  and  the 
pronouncement  of  the  leading  Republican  journal  in  the 
state.  "  The  people  of  Florida  have  decided  in  favor  of  a 
convention,"  announced  the  Radical  sheet.  "  Those  who 
tried  to  defeat  it  as  well  as  those  who  labored  to  secure  a 
convention  are  deeply  interested  in  the  work  to  be  per- 
formed by  that  body.  It  is  expected  of  the  delegates  that 
they  will  carry  out  the  Congressional  policy  in  the  true 
spirit."  ' 

The  constitutional  convention  was  ordered  by  the  mili- 

*  Report  of  Committee  on  Eligibility,  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  60. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  291-3. 

*  Rpt.  of  Comit.  on  Eligibility. 

*  Floridian,  Dec.  17,  1867. 

'  Florida  Union,  Nov.  30,  1867. 


500 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


tary  commander  to  assemble  on  Monday,  January  20th, 
in  Tallahassee.^  Several  days  before  that  date  delegates 
began  to  come  into  town.  Most  of  these  early  arrivals  were 
negroes.  Liberty  Billings,  Daniel  Richards,  and  William  U. 
Saunders  were  particularly  active  at  this  time.  These  men 
were  the  leaders  of  the  "  most  Radical  "  Republicans  in 
Florida,  and  the  mass  of  their  following  was  black.  They 
rented  a  boarding-house  in  Tallahassee  and  procured  a  team 
of  mules  and  a  vehicle  of  some  sort.  As  the  negro  dele- 
gates arrived  in  Tallahassee  they  were  met  at  the  railway 
station,  put  into  this  carry-all,  and  hauled  to  the  hospitable 
free  boarding-house  of  the  schemers. 

Planning  to  control  the  convention  by  dictating  its  or- 
ganization, Billings  and  his  associates  came  together  in  a 
preliminary  meeting  or  caucus  on  the  Saturday  (January 
1 8th)  preceding  the  Monday  on  which  the  main  body  was 
to  convene.  In  this  caucus — at  which  twenty-eight  dele- 
gates were  present — the  "  Billings  men  "  were  organized 
and  prepared  to  act  as  a  body  when  the  convention  should 
open  formally  on  Monday.  Daniel  Richards  was  named 
for  president.^ 

On  January  20th,  the  convention  formally  began  its  ses- 
sion in  the  capitol  building.^  Only  twenty-nine  delegates 
of  the  forty-six  elected  were  present.*  Some  demanded 
delay  till  all  had  arrived,  but  the  radical  majority  willed 
otherwise  and  rode  rough-shod  over  the  minority.  Robert 
Meacham,  negro,  of  Jeflferson  County,  was  chosen  tempor- 

»  An.  Cyclo.,  1868. 

*  Floridian,   Feb.    11,    1868;    see   also   account   in    Wallace,    op.   cit.. 
pp.  47-48. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  p.  i,  Proceedings  of  the 
Florida  Convention. 

*  Report  Sec.  of  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  p.  93,  cipher  telegram,  Meade  to 
Grant.    H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  p.  i. 


THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1868 


501 


ary  chairman.  A  committee  of  five  was  appointed  at  once 
to  nominate  permanent  officers  for  the  convention.  Three 
of  the  five  on  the  committee  were  black.  Amid  exciting 
and  incendiary  speeches  for  "  equal  rights,  education,  and 
the  ballot-box,"  the  first  hours  of  the  afternoon  passed. 

The  radical  committee  on  nominations  submitted  its  re- 
port, which  was  at  once  adopted.  Daniel  Richards,  white, 
was  elected  thereby  president,  and  thirty  other  officers  and 
employees  were  installed.^  About  four-fifths  of  the  num- 
ber were  negroes. 

Richards,  on  taking  the  chair,  said :  "  Let  us  insure  to  all 
who  have  not  forfeited  their  rights  by  treason  or  rebellion 
a  common  interest  in  our  laws,  our  government,  and  our 
institutions."  ^  This  statement  was  a  definite  declaration 
against  those  Southern  whites  for  the  moment  disfranchised 
by  act  of  Congress.  It  was  a  suggestion  of  what  might  be 
the  solution  of  the  suffrage  question  in  the  new  constitution. 
The  Florida  Union  had  stated  almost  two  months  before 
that  "  perhaps  the  most  difficult  question  is  to  decide  who 
will  be  given  the  suffrage." 

"  The  bottom  rail  was  on  top,"  and  those  persons  who 
controlled  the  convention  were  determined  to  keep  it  there 
in  the  future. 

On  the  second  day,  January  21st,  an  ordinance  was 
passed  unanimously  forbidding  the  sale  of  property  for 
debt,  suspending  the  collection  of  all  taxes,  and  releas- 
ing from  custody  all  persons  held  to  labor  for  the  non-pay- 
ment of  taxes — but  not  forbidding  a  laborer  to  collect 
wages  due  him  from  his  employer.'  It  is  obvious  this  or- 
dinance was  passed  in  the  interest  of  the  negro.  It  was  a 
revolutionary  measure  but  thoroughly  consistent  with  the 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  p.  i. 

*  Floridian,  Jan.  21,  1868. 

*  Floridian,  Jan.  21,  1868. 


502 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


convention's  character.  W.  C.  Purman,  carpet-bagger,  op- 
posed its  passage.  His  opposition  marks  the  beginning  of 
open  contest  in  the  convention  between  radical  Republicans 
and  what  might  be  termed  moderate  Republicans.^ 

Seventeen  committees  were  appointed  by  President  Rich- 
ards on  January  22nd,  the  third  day.  On  all  of  the  im- 
portant committees  was  either  Saunders  or  Billings  with 
enough  negro  allies  to  control.  On  the  important  com- 
mittee on  privileges  and  elections  sat  both  Saunders  and 
Billings.  This  committee  was  composed  of  "  three  per- 
sons only,  all  of  whom  were  charged  by  moderate  Republi- 
cans with  being  ineligible  to  seats  in  the  convention."  ^ 

Almost  immediately  the  committee  on  privileges  and 
elections  brought  in  a  report  which  denied  to  the  conven- 
tion the  power  to  pass  on  the  eligibility  to  seats  in  the  con- 
vention of  those  elected.  Purman  opposed  the  adoption 
of  this  report.  The  contest  over  eligibility  had  begun.  It 
was  the  issue  which  split  the  convention.  The  radical  ele- 
ment desired  the  question  of  eligibility  left  alone  because 
several  of  its  leaders  might  lose  their  seats  if  their  qualifi- 
cations were  seriously  probed  into.  Richards,  the  presi- 
dent, was  said  to  be  still  a  citizen  of  Illinois;  Saunders,  of 
Maryland ;  Billings,  of  New  Hampshire ;  and  C.  H,  Pearce, 
of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.^     Therefore  "  the  President 

^  Floridian,  Jan.  21,  1868.  For  six  months  the  iRadical  Party  in 
Florida  had  been  broken  into  hostile  factions.  The  campaign  for 
registration  and  for  election  to  the  convention  demonstrated  this.  The 
contest  between  Moderate  and  Radical  Republicans  in  east  Florida  was 
bitter.  In  Jacksonville  "  each  crowd  alternately  call  meetings  and  abuse 
and  blackguard  the  other  crowd.  Many  torch-light  and  drum  proces- 
sions, etc.  Not  much  difference  in  the  ultimate  designs  of  either  fac- 
tion," Floridian,  Nov.  12,  1867  (letter  from  Jacksonville.) 

'  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  p.  i ;  Floridian,  Jan.  28,  1868. 

*  Rpt.  of  Comit.  on  Eligibility.  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  60.  Billings  had 
been  in  Florida  since  1864  and  Richards  had  come  into  Florida  in  1866 
but  had  gone  out  of  the  State. 


THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1868       ^03 

ruled  that  no  question  could  be  entertained  touching  the 
eligibility  of  members,  and  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  a 
two-thirds  vote,  which  was  necessary  under  the  rules 
adopted,  to  sustain  an  appeal  from  the  chair,  especially  as  he 
allowed  the  parties  interested  to  vote  upon  the  subject."  ^ 
Richards  and  his  friends  were  aggressive.  They  demanded 
of  the  state  treasurer  that  all  public  monies  be  turned  over 
to  the  chairman  for  the  use  of  the  convention.  The  treas- 
urer refused  and  the  radical  chairman  then  forged  an 
order  from  the  military  commander  to  force  obedience  to 
his  demand.    The  state  official  still  refused  to  act. 

The  more  conservative  men,  such  as  Purman,  Osbom, 
and  Jenkins,  resented  the  high-handed  and  exclusive  con- 
trol exercised  by  Billings,  Richards,  and  the  negroes.  A 
few  Radicals  expelled  from  the  convention  would  leave 
that  body  in  control  of  the  "  Moderate  "  Republicans.  At 
this  time  the  two  factions  were  almost  evenly  balanced, 
with  three  or  four  delegates  in  doubt. 

The  first  week  of  the  convention's  session  was  taken  up 
with  boisterous  and  disorderly  speech-making,  debate,  and 
parliamentary  squabbling  barren  of  useful  results.  The 
hall  was  filled  not  only  with  gesticulating  delegates,  but 
with  gesticulating  employees  and  lobbyists  as  well,  admitted 
to  the  floor  to  make  demonstrations  for  the  Richards  and 
Billings  faction.  By  the  end  of  the  week  the  convention  was 
hopelessly  split  into  two  factions.  One  faction — the  more 
conservative — was  composed  of  all  white  delegates  but 
three  and  of  one  or  two  negroes,  and  bore  the  title  of  "  Op- 
position ",  "  Johnson  Party  ",  or  "  The  Lobby  ".'  The 
man  spoken  of  as  the  dominating  personality  among  mod- 
erate Republicans  was  Harrison  Reed,  Federal  post-office 

^  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2  S.,  no.  114,  p.  i. 

»  A^.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  8,  1868;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  28,  1868;  Floridian, 
Feb.  4.  1868. 


504 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


agent  for  Florida.  He  was  not  a  member  of  the  conven- 
tion but  was  present  in  Tallahassee,  where  he  was  alluded 
to  as  "  Johnson's  agent  "/ 

The  other  party  or  faction  had  practically  all  the  ne- 
groes— sixteen  or  seventeen — and  three  white  men.  It  was 
slightly  in  the  minority,  but  well  organized  and  in  control 
of  the  committees.  The  arbitrary  rulings  of  Richards, 
president,  hindered  the  Opposition.^  Most  attempts  at 
constructive  work  by  the  Radicals  were  held  up  by  the 
Opposition  with  its  menace  of  more  votes.  Constitution- 
making  was  forgotten  in  the  contest  over  which  faction 
should  rule.  The  legitimate  work  of  the  convention  was 
at  a  dead-lock. 

The  fight  was  one  between  nearly  a  white  faction  and  a 
black  faction;  between  Radical  or  Congressional  Republi- 
cans and  Conservative  or  Johnson  Unionists;  and  to  some 
extent  between  those  politicians  who  held  Federal  office 
and  those  politicians  who  did  not  hold  Federal  office.^  The 
technical  difference  between  the  factions  was  the  question 
in  Florida  of  the  eligibility  of  certain  members  to  seats  in 
the  convention.  The  fundamental  difference  was  the  ex- 
istence in  national  politics  of  a  bitter  feud  among  Repub- 
licans. At  that  moment  in  Washington  Radical  Republi- 
cans were  preparing  to  drive  President  Johnson  from  office 
by  impeachment. 

»  Letter  of  Solon  Robinson,  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  8,  1868. 

*  N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  23,  1868.  The  Convention  was  governed  by  the 
Rules  of  the  National  House,  with  slight  alterations.  H.  Misc.  Docs., 
40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  p.  3. 

Richards  ruled  that  no  question  touching  eligibility  could  be  enter- 
tained; that  the  majority  had  no  appeal  from  his  rulings;  and  he 
refused  at  pleasure  to  yield  the  floor  to  the  Moderate  faction. 

•  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  pp.  4,  9.  Of  the  22  Moder- 
ate Republicans  anB  Conservatives  13  were  ex-officers  of  the  Union 
army.  Osborn  was  Federal  Register  of  Bankruptcy;  Hart,  who  en- 
tered the  Convention  late,  Supt.  of  Registration ;  Purman.  Bu.  Agt. 


THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1868 


505 


Was  it  race  prejudice  that  made  the  "  Johnson  Party  " 
at  Tallahassee  so  nearly  a  white  man's  party  ?  While  there 
is  a  tendency  for  men  of  the  same  color  to  cling  together  in 
time  of  contest  among  peoples  of  various  colors,  we  find  in 
this  case  that  those  individuals  who  opposed  the  black  party 
in  the  convention,  at  a  later  date  harmoniously  and  inti- 
mately associated  politically  with  negroes.  Most  of  the 
whites  there  were  elected  by  black  votes. 

By  the  last  of  the  month  affairs  had  reached  a  critical  and' 
irritating  stage.  "  The  Hall  is  more  like  a  gladiatorial 
arena  than  a  sober  convention  of  delegates  to  form  a  con- 
stitution for  a  state  that  is  almost  in  a  condition  of  anar- 
chy," wrote  Solon  Robinson  to  the  New  York  Tribune} 
The  Radical  faction  claimed  that 

threats  were  openly  made  by  the  Conservative  Johnson  office- 
holders that  no  constitution  should  be  made  or  business  done 
until  the  organization  of  the  Convention  was  broken  up.  Con- 
servative Republicans,  both  in  and  out  of  the  Convention,  began 
to  caucus  day  and  night,  with  the  leading  rebels  freely  ad- 
mitted to  their  councils,  to  devise  ways  and  means  to  over- 
throw the  Radicals.  The  principal  hotel  in  the  city  was  opened 
freely  to  the  delegates  who  would  act  with  them,  and  who 
were  all  poor — many  of  them  had  not  money  enough  to  pay 
their  board  bills  with.  Whiskey  flowed  free  as  water.  Money 
was  used  in  abundance  to  corrupt  the  delegates,  which  was 
like  tendering  bread  to  a  starving  man.^ 

Stormy  weather  swept  over  Tallahassee  and  vicinity. 
Clear,  cold  days  followed.  Ice  and  frozen  mud  lay  in  the 
town's  unpaved  streets.  Flowers  died  from  the  snappy  nip 
of  the  winter  atmosphere,  and  people  sought  warm  inter- 
iors. The  hotel  corridor  and  the  "  parlors  "  of  boarding- 
houses  were  lively  with  the  talk  of  politicians,  black  and 

'  A^.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  8,  1868.  '  Ibid. 


5o6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

white,  dickering  over  the  doings  in  the  convention  cham- 
ber. When  the  winter  sun  sank  below  the  horizon  and  the 
semi-tropical  sky  of  that  latitude  gave  forth  the  strange 
sheen  of  a  short,  cold  twilight,  cotton-field  and  woodland, 
lake  and  brook,  town  and  outlying  homestead  became 
serenely  engulfed  for  a  few  moments  in  the  weird  opales- 
cent glow  that  moves  on  eternally  somewhere  just  ahead  of 
a  clear  winter  night.  The  restless,  motley  crowd  on  the 
main  street  of  Tallahassee  did  not  linger.  White  rowdies 
clad  in  jeans  and  "  chawin'  and  spittin'  " ;  an  occasional 
"  lobbyist  "  from  the  North,  bored-looking,  well-groomed 
and  seeking  scrip  or  concessions;  negro  wenches  decked  in 
finery,  reeking  in  cheap  cologne,  and  seeking  men;  negro 
bums  and  politicians  seeking  women;  and  Federal  soldiers 
seeking  treats — all  moved  happily  and  thankfully  into  the 
glow  of  cabin,  bar,  billiard-parlor,  or  cheap  hotel.  This 
was  now  part  of  legislating.  Tallahassee  had  never  seen 
the  like  before,  but  it  was  to  be  worse  shocked  ere  Recon- 
struction had  run  its  course.  Toddies  circulated  as  freely 
as  gossip  among  men  seated  before  blazing  fire-places  with 
their  "  fronts  roasting  and  their  backs  freezing  ".  "  Damn 
these  Southern  houses,"  said  the  man  of  the  North  think- 
ing wearily  of  home  and  a  more  honorable  past.  "  God- 
damn these  Northern  Radicals,"  said  the  Conservative  who 
could  not  vote. 

January  29th  the  committee  on  privileges  and  elections 
brought  in  its  second  report.  A  more  or  less  violent  and 
foolish  debate  of  two  days'  duration  followed.^  Each  fac- 
tion seemed  afraid  to  put  the  matter  to  a  vote.  Money  had 
been  spent  by  lobbyists,  and  leaders  did  not  know  who 
might  purposely  vote  wrong  when  the  issue  came.  On  the 
vote  might  hang  the  character  of  Florida's  government  in 
the  immediate  future.    The  issue  was  therefore  important. 

»  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  10,  1868. 


THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1868 


507 


Finally  several  men  counted  as  possible  moderate  Re- 
publicans were  reported  to  have  gone  over  to  the  Radical 
wing.  On  the  night  of  January  31st,  N.  C.  Dennett,  of 
Jacksonville,  was  called  home  by  a  telegram  saying  that  his 
wife  was  dying.  The  Radicals  claimed  that  they  had  a 
majority.^  They  took  advantage  of  their  chance.  The  re- 
port on  eligibility  was  promptly  put  to  vote,  and  the  whole 
matter  was  laid  on  the  table  till  March  ist.  By  that  date  it 
was  expected  that  the  convention  would  have  finished  its 
labors  and  dispersed.  The  body  then  adjourned  till  Feb- 
ruary 4th.  ^ 

The  conservative  Opposition  had  lost  hope  of  control. 
They  determined  to  break  up  the  convention  or  force  a 
compromise  by  withdrawing.  Such  action  would  destroy  a 
majority  quorum,  as  only  forty  delegates  had  qualified  at 
Tallahassee.  Accordingly  eighteen  members  seceded  in  a 
body.  They  went  to  Monticello,  a  neighboring  town,  where 
they  began  work  as  a  sort  of  independent  constitutional 
convention.^  Here  they  were  joined  by  three  delegates  who 
had  not  qualified  at  the  original  convention. 

Constitution-making  in  Florida  had  reached  a  ridicu- 
lous impasse.    Neither  body  could  muster  a  majority  of  the 

»  Robinson  in  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  20,  1868;  N.  Y.  World,  Feb.  i, 
1868.  Dennett  had  been  elected  in  opposition  to  what  was  known  as 
the  Hart  or  Moderate  Republican  ticket  in  East  Florida.  At  the  time 
of  the  election  Dennett  was  known  as  a  Radical  Republican  but  in  the 
Convention  he  identified  himself  with  the  white  or  Moderate  Republi- 
cans.    See  Floridian,  Nov.  26,  1867. 

Gen.  Meade  states  that  40  delegates  were  present  in  Tallahassee. 
See  Rpt.  Secy,  of  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  p.  93— Meade  to  Grant,  Feb.  12, 1868. 

*  Floridian,  Feb.  11,  1868;  .V.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  10,  1868.  The  move 
to  adjourn  came  from  the  Moderate  men.  The  Radical  leaders  at- 
tempted to  defeat  it  but  several  of  the  negroes  voted  wrong. 

•  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C.,  2nd.  S.,  no.  114,  p.  2.  Wallace,  o/>.  cit., 
pp.  67-74  Rpt.  Secy,  of  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  p.  93.  Accounts  differ  in 
detail. 


5o8  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

delegates  elected.  Twenty-one  sat  at  Monticello;  twenty- 
two,  at  Tallahassee;  but  forty-six  had  been  elected/ 

The  "Rump  Convention"  in  Tallahassee  petitioned  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Flint,  of  the  Federal  military,  to  seize  four- 
teen of  the  leading  seceders  and  bring  them  back  by  force 
if  necessary  to  the  state  house.     Flint  refused  to  act.^ 

The  abbreviated  body  left  in  Tallahassee,  undismayed 
by  irregularities,  decided  to  continue  in  session  and  transact 
business,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  it  contained  only 
twenty-two  members,  less  than  a  majority.  One  of  its  first 
acts  was  to  vote  $50,ocx)  in  state  scrip  to  pay  its  expenses." 
The  pay  of  members  was  to  be  $io  per  day  and  mileage 
at  the  rate  of  40  cents  per  mile.  The  salaries  were  to  begin 
not  on  January  20th,  when  the  delegates  began  their  labors, 
but  on  December  28th,  the  day  of  the  promulgation  of  Gen- 
eral Orders  No.  no  formally  calling  them  together.  This 
meant  twenty-three  days  pay  before  the  convention  con- 
vened.* $15,000  were  appropriated  for  printing  alone — 
but  William  U.  Saunders  managed  to  retain  $10,000  of  the 
amount  for  himself.^  The  clerks,  messengers,  porters,  and 
pages  were  paid  from  $10  to  $20  per  day.  The  ac- 
counts of  the  negro,  Paul  Crippen,  financial  agent,  were  so 
confused  that  later  it  was  impossible  to  tell  for  what  much 
of  the  money  was  expended.  $14,861  was  paid  out  by 
Crippen.*  "  Such  a  system  of  extravagance,"  stated  a  Re- 
publican committee  of  investigation,  "  if  persisted  in  will 

*  Rpt.  Secy,  of  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  p.  93. 
'  Floridian,  Feb.  11,  1868. 

*  Such  action  was  authorized  by  the  Reconstruction  Law  of  March 
23,  1867,  Sec.  8, — McPherson,  Reconstruction,  p.  193. 

*  //.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  p.  2. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40' h  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  p.  8,  Report  of  Committ. 
of  investigation.    Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  53. 

«  Ibid. 


THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1868      ^09 

not  only  bring  the  State  to  the  verge  of  bankruptcy  but  will 
impoverish  its  citizens,  prevent  immigration  and  forever 
retard  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  State."  ^ 

February  8th  the  "  Rump  Convention  "  adjourned  for 
one  week,  having  adopted  a  constitution,  the  most  notable 
features  of  which  were:  i,  the  barring  from  public  office 
of  all  who  had  in  any  fashion  supported  the  Confederacy; 
2,  the  disfranchising  of  all  who  had  "  given  aid  or  com- 
fort "  to  the  "  Rebellion  "  after  having  held  office  under  the 
state  or  the  United  States.^  The  constitution  is  said  to 
have  been  made  in  Chicago  and  brought  into  Florida  by 
Daniel  Richards,  president  of  the  convention.^  It  was  laid 
before  General  Meade  in  Atlanta  by  Delegate  J.  H.  Goss,  a 
scalawag  and  one-time  deserter  from  the  Confederate 
army.* 

The  "  Rump  "  then  organized  itself  into  a  nominating 
convention  and  chose  from  its  members  present  a  full  state 
ticket:  governor,  lieutenant-governor,  secretary  of  state, 
member  of  congress,  and  superintendent  of  education.' 

The  "  seceders  "  returned  in  a  body  from  Monticello  to 
Tallahassee  on  the  evening  of  February  loth — "  not  wish- 
ing a  day  should  elapse  without  the  convention  being  in 
session."  "  Near  midnight  they  quietly  slipped  into  the 
convention  chamber  in  the  state  house  and  proceeded  to 
organize.^     To  assure  a  majority  they  induced  the  military 

1  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  53. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  109, — "  History  of  Constitu- 
tional Convention "  by  Richards  and  Saunders.  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp. 
359.  366.     Constitution,  Art.  6,  Sec.  3;  Art.  15. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  57. 

*  N.  Y.  Herald,  Feb.  7,  8,  n,  1868.    Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  57- 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  p.  2. 

*  Ihid.,  pp.  2,  3. 
'  Ibid. 


510 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


to  arrest  two  members  of  the  other  faction,  drag  them  from 
beds,  and  bring  them  to  the  hall.^  Twenty-four  delegates 
were  then  present.  Forty-six  had  been  elected  originally 
to  the  convention. 

A  protest  against  Daniel  Richards  was  adopted  by  unani- 
mous vote,  and  Richards  was  declared  deposed  as  presi- 
dent.^ Thomas  W.  Osborn,  ex-army  officer,  nominated 
Horatio  Jenkins,  Jr.,  for  the  vacant  place.  He  was 
elected.^  Thirteen  of  the  twenty-four  members  present 
were  ex-army  officers.  The  newly-organized  convention 
then  proceeded  to  discharge  from  service  those  persons  em- 
ployed by  the  "  Rump  ".* 

The  next  day  news  spread  through  the  town  and  into 
the  surrounding  country.  Negroes  crowded  the  streets. 
Secret  societies  were  active.  Wild  talk  was  indulged  in. 
A  mob  of  blacks  under  white  leaders  threatened  to  attack 
the  reconstituted  convention.^  Federal  troops  stood  guard 
near  the  state  house.*  Several  of  the  Radicals  deserted 
their  faction  and  came  over  to  the  Opposition  ensconced 
in  the  capitol  building. 

The  Opposition  could  now  command  an  absolute  ma- 
jority.'^    It  proceeded  to  adopt  a  constitution  fashioned  in 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  109,  p.  2.  This  was  denied  by 
the  other  side,  see  Doc,  no.  114. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  pp.  3-4.  Four  of  the 
twenty-four  were  negroes,  two  having  been  brought  into  the  hall  by 
the  military. 

*  Florida  Union,  Feb.  22,  1868.  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S., 
no.  114,  p.  4- 

*  Floridian,  Feb.  11,  1868.    Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  57-58. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  p.  2. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  59,  Appendix,  pp.  371-73 ;  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th 
2nd  S.,  no.  114,  pp.  2,  7. 

"I  N.  Y.  Herald,  Feb.  11,  1868;  N.  Y.  Times,  Dec.  i,  1868;  AT.  F. 
World,  Sept.  5,  1868.    Twenty-nine  members  were  present. 


THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1868 


511 


Monticello.  It  was  a  fairly  liberal  document,  patterned 
somewhat  after  the  constitutions  of  Vermont  and  Missouri 
and  including  all  salient  demands  in  the  Congressional  plan 
of  reconstruction/  By  it  blacks  and  whites  would  be 
granted  the  suffrage  on  equal  terms — no  class  being  pro- 
scribed politically  for  previous  condition  or  "  rebellion  ". 
Local  offices  with  few  exceptions  would  be  filled  by  ex- 
ecutive appointment;  county  courts  continued;  a  new  sys- 
tem of  circuit  courts  created;  and  specific  limitation  put 
on  the  county  representation  in  the  legislature.^  No  county 
could  have  more  than  four  representatives  in  the  assembly. 
This  last  provision — the  limitation  of  county  representation 
— was  a  vital  part  of  the  proposed  constitution.  For  Florida, 
at  that  time,  its  incorporation  as  a  part  of  the  fundamental 
law  was  of  peculiar  moment.  The  limitation  would  pre- 
vent the  few  populous  negro  counties  from  completely 
dominating  the  government  and  Africanizing  the  state. 
The  situation  was  a  desperate  one.  The  men  who  con- 
trolled the  making  of  this  instrument — Republicans — un- 
doubtedly planned  deliberately  to  keep  the  balance  of  power 
in  the  hands  of  whites. 

This  provision  of  the  proposed  constitution  was  bitterly 
attacked  before  General  Meade  and  Congress  by  a  com- 
mittee of  Radicals  from  the  "  Rump  Convention  ".  "  By 
the  apportionment  provided  for  in  said  constitution ", 
stated  the  protestants,  "  less  than  one-fourth  of  the  regis- 
tered voters  will  elect  a  majority  of  the  state  senate,  and 
less  than  one-third  will  elect  a  majority  of  the  assembly. 
6,700  voters  in  the  rebel  counties  elect  as  many  senators  as 
20,282  voters  elect  in  the  Union  counties."    This  was  sub- 

*  See  comments  in  N.  Y.  Herald,  Feb.  15  and  16,  1868. 

*  See  Constitution,  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd   S.,  no.   114,  Arts. 
I,  VI,  and  XVI. 


512  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

stantially  true.  *"  It  grants  suffrage  to  and  removes  all  dis- 
abilities from  the  vilest  rebels  and  haters  of  the  Govern- 
ment," continued  the  protestants,  "  and  permits  them  to  be 
elevated  to  places  of  power  and  trust  without  regard  to  the 
Reconstruction  Acts  of  Congress,  and  disfranchises  thou- 
sands of  the  colored  voters."  ^  This  was  a  silly  lie.  Re- 
publicans themselves  branded  it  as  a  "  wilfull  and  malicious 
falsehood  ".' 

The  constitution  was  the  joint  product  of  moderate  Re- 
publicans in  the  convention  and  certain  native  white  Con- 
servatives (not  Republicans)  who  had  no  place  there.'  The 
"  Opposition  ",  "  Johnson  Party  ",  or  "  Seceders  "  had  the 
sympathy  and  support  of  Governor  Walker  and  the  native 
whites  throughout  the  state.  What  was  of  more  immediate 
importance,  they  had  the  sympathy  of  the  Federal  military 
commander  in  Tallahassee.  They  had  acted  in  disregard 
of  law,  precedent,  and  General  Pope's  orders  when  they 
marched  out  of  the  convention  hall,  when  they  met  in 
Monticello,  and  when  they  reassembled  in  Tallahassee.  Yet 
they  received  not  only  the  protection  but  the  aid  of  the 
Federal  military.*  The  conduct  of  the  "  Seceders  "  toward 
the  existing  state  government  and  the  native  white  Con- 
servatives of  Florida  was  in  sharp  contrast  to  that  of  the 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  109,  p.  5  (Report  of  Saunders 
and  Richards). 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  p.  9  (Report  of  Gleason 
and  Alden). 

*  I  draw  this  conclusion  from  the  friendly  relations  of  Conservative 
leaders  and  the  leaders  of  the  Moderate  Republican  faction.  Rerick, 
Memoirs  of  Florida,  v.  i,  p.  305,  says :  "  Through  the  influence  of  Gov. 
Walker,  Capt.  Chas.  Dyke,  Editor  of  the  Floridian,  and  others  who 
continued  to  use  their  political  skill  for  the  welfare  of  the  State,  the 
constitution  (which  was  the  same  as  that  made  at  Monticello)  con- 
tained an  apportionment  for  legislative  purposes,  etc."  See  also 
Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  372 ;  and  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  109. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  pp.  2,  7;  no.  109,  pp.  2,  3,  4. 


THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1868 


513 


Radicals.  It  indicated  at  least  a  sentiment  of  conciliation 
and  respect  instead  of  hostility  and  contempt.^ 

Republican  Radicals  North  and  South  clamored  not  only 
for  negro  enfranchisement  but  for  the  proscription  of  as 
many  Conservative  whites  as  possible.  "A  proscriptive 
policy  will  tend  to  widen  the  breach  which  now  exists  in 
Southern  society,"  stated  the  men  who  made  the  "  Sece- 
ders'  "  or  Monticello  constitution,  "  and  create  a  spirit  of 
jealousy  and  strengthen  the  feeling  of  animosity  toward 
the  supporters  of  the  Government.  The  constitution  has 
been  framed  by  men  who  understand  the  situation  and 
who  believed  it  was  far  better  to  extend  the  olive  branch  of 
friendship  to  those  who  have  hitherto  opposed  the  Gov- 
ernment than  place  them  in  a  position  of  perpetual  out- 
lawry." ^ 

General  Meade,  informed  of  the  trouble  in  Florida,  left 
Atlanta  for  Tallahassee.  "  I  must  now  decide  on  the  legal- 
ity of  the  acts  of  the  22  who  present  a  constitu- 
tion," he  telegraphed  Grant.  "  Are  22  members  of  a  body 
to  which  46  were  elected,  40  organized  and  3  subsequently 
appeared  competent  to  discharge  the  functions  assigned  by 
law  to  the  Convention  ?  "  ^ 

Grant  was  inclined  to  simplify  matters  as  well  as  please 
a  Radical  Congress  by  accepting  the  work  of  the  Radical 
"  Rump  Convention  "  in  Tallahassee.  The  constitution  pro- 
posed by  that  body  would  disfranchise  whites  and  throw 
the  control  of  the  government  into  the  hands  of  the  negro 

^  Floridian,  Feb.  18,  1868.  The  seceding  convention  formally  re- 
quested of  the  Governor  the  use  of  the  capitol  building;  congratulated 
the  governor  on  his  refusal  to  turn  over  the  money  in  the  state  treasury 
to  the  Convention ;  and  expressed  regret  that  discourtesy  had  been 
shown  him. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  p.  11. 

»  Meade  to  Grant,  Feb.  12,  1868,— 7?/)f.  Secy.  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  pp.  93-4 


514 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


counties/  "  Has  not  the  convention  in  Florida  expelled 
some  of  its  members-elect  as  ineligible  to  seats  ?  "  Grant 
telegraphed  Meade.  "If  so  is  not  22  members  a  quorum 
and  are  not  the  expelled  members  among  the  seceders  ?  "  ^ 

Meade  reached  Tallahassee  on  the  17th  of  February.^ 
The  Radical  Billings  faction,  refusing  to  take  part  in  the 
"  seceders'  convention ",  was  holding  indignation  meet- 
ings in  the  public  square,  negro  churches,  and  secret  society- 
lodge  rooms.*  Meade  was  conciliatory.  He  tried  by  per- 
suasion to  have  the  two  factions  come  together  and  re- 
organize. Both  presidents,  Richards  and  Jenkins,  were 
finally  induced  to  resign.® 

During  the  afternoon  of  February  i8th,  with  Colonel 
Sprague  in  the  chair,  the  convention  was  reorganized.®  The 
"  Seceders  "  or  conservative  faction  triumphed.  Horatio 
Jenkins  was  re-elected  president  by  a  vote  of  thirty-two  to 
eight,  and  Billings,  Richards,  Saunders,  and  Pearce  were  ex- 
pelled by  a  vote  of  twenty-five  to  sixteen  on  the  ground  that 
not  being  citizens  of  Florida,  they  were  ineligible  for 
political  office.^     The  vigorous  course  taken  by  the  military 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  109.  Eight  counties  (Jackson, 
Gadsden,  Leon,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Alachua,  Marion,  Duval)  heavily 
dominated  by  black  votes  would  control  Senate  and  House. 

'  Rpt.  Secy.. of  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  p.  94. 

'  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114  This  report  says  he 
arrived  on  i8th ;  no.  109.    N.  Y.  Herald,  Feb.  18,  1868. 

*  A^.  Y.  Herald,  Feb.  15,  1868. 

' //.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  p.  7;  no.  109,  passim; 
Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  373-374 — Meade  to  Richards,  Feb.  18,  1868. 
N.  Y.  Herald,  Feb.  19,  1868. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  1 14,  p.  7. 

''  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  p.  6,  7;  no.  iog;N.  Y. 
Herald,  Feb.  19  and  20,  1868.  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  60  and  62.  J.  E. 
Davidson  and  M.  L.  Stearns  replaced  Richards  and  Saunders ;  Rich. 
Wells  replaced  C.  H.  Pearce  and  Col.  O.  B.  Hart  (afterwards  Repiib. 
Governor)  Liberty  Billings. 


THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  OF  1868       -j^ 

and  the  influence  of  General  Meade's  presence  were  suffi- 
cient to  make  negro  Radicals,  who  had  been  absenting  them- 
selves, take  again  their  places  in  the  convention.  The  body 
once  more  could  command  an  absolute  majority.  Febru- 
ary 25  th,  the  Monticello  constitution  was  adopted  by  a 
vote  of  twenty-eight  to  sixteen.^  By  ordinance  of  the  con- 
vention this  document  was  to  be  submitted  to  the  votes  of 
the  people  on  May  6th,  7th,  and  8th. ^  The  convention  ad- 
journed sine  die,  and  the  episode  of  making  a  constitution 
to  suit  Congressional  ideas  was  closed.  The  black  was  en- 
franchised.^ 

The  Radical  element  had  been  beaten,  but  not  without  the 
help  of  the  Federal  military.  The  negro  members  had  acted 
as  a  body  practically  and  had  followed  the  most  radical  and 
bitter  leaders  of  the  Republican  party  in  Florida.  They 
and  the  black  electors  had  been  won  by  promises  and  by 
money.  Something  more  than  desire  for  petty  political 
office  drove  on  Southern  Republicans  in  the  rush  to  obey 
Congress.  Later  developments  in  Florida  give  strong  cred- 
ibility to  a  statement  made  at  this  time  by  Republicans  that 
"  a  scheme  had  been  on  foot  and  a  ring  formed  to  obtain 
possession  of  the  railways  of  the  State.  This  ring  was 
composed  of  the  leaders  in  the  minority  Convention  and 
parties  in  New  York  by  whom  money  was  furnished."  * 

The  end  of  this  constitution-making  episode  was  only  the 
beginning  of  Florida's  Reconstruction  troubles.  The  worst 
was  to  come.     The  Conservative  whites,  defeated  in  the 

»  Floridian,  Mch.  3,  1868;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Feb.  26,  1868.  It  was  fin- 
ally signed  by  all  44  members  present, — H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd 
S.,  no.  114,  p.  31. 

»  N.  Y.  Herald,  Feb.  25,  186& 

•  See  Constitution,  Sec.  14,  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114, 
p.  24. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  p.  7. 


5i6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

elections,  were  already  beginning  to  physically  assault  Re- 
publicans, black  and  white,  in  desperate  efforts  to  break 
their  grip  on  the  ballot-boxes  and  the  government.  This 
meant  violence,  often  of  the  worst  form.  It  meant  the 
saddest  part  of  the  Reconstruction  ordeal — peace  sought 
through  means  of  midnight  assassination,  riot,  and  terror. 
Such  misfortune  developed  under  Republican  rule. 


BOOK  IV 
REPUBLICAN  RULE 

"  The  difficulty  is  in  the  diversity  of  the  races.  So  strongly  drawn 
is  the  line  between  the  two  in  consequence,  and  so  strengthened  by 
the  force  of  habit  and  education,  that  it  is  impossible  for  them  to 
exist  together  in  the  same  community  where  their  numbers  are  so 
nearly  equal  as  in  the  slave-holding  States,  under  any  other  relation 
than  that  which  now  exists. 

"  Social  and  political  equality  between  them  is  impossible.  The 
causes  lie  too  deep  in  the  principles  of  our  nature  to  be  surmounted. 
But  without  such  equality,  to  change  the  present  condition  of  the 
African  race  would  be  but  to  change  the  form  of  slavery.  It  would 
make  them  slaves  of  the  community  instead  of  the  slaves  of  in- 
dividuals." 

John  C.  Calhoun,  Rpt.  on  Abolition  Petitions,  Feb.  4th,  1836, — 
Cralle,  v.  5,  pp.  204-5. 


CHAPTER  XX 

The  Inauguration  of  a  Republican  State 
Government 

The  struggle  over  the  issues  of  Reconstruction  revived 
the  Democratic  party  within  the  state  of  Florida.  The 
militant  Democracy  of  the  South  six  years  earlier  led  the 
state  from  the  Union.  The  conservative  Democracy  of 
the  Union  now  stood  opposed  to  the  Congressional  plan  of 
bringing  Florida  with  restored  rights  back  into  the  Union. 
The  processes  of  political  alienation  and  war  through  which 
the  South  had  passed  had  brought  to  an  end  within  its 
borders  the  old  Democracy.  The  processes  of  political  and 
social  rehabilitation  through  which  the  South  began  to 
pass  when  the  war  had  ceased  developed  anew  within  that 
section  this  once  powerful,  once  radical  and  reckless,  and 
now  overthrown  and  discredited  party.  The  rebuilding  of 
"  Democracy  "  South,  which  was  evident  when  Conserva- 
tive opposed  Radical  in  1867,  was  nearly  consummated 
when  Democrats  faced  Republicans  in  the  state  and  Presi- 
dential elections  of  1868.  What  came  to  pass  was  as  in- 
evitable as  it  was  obviously  logical.  Democrat  was  a  term 
to  conjure  with.  Intimately  associated  with  the  most  spec- 
tacular events  of  the  entire  nation  for  more  than  a  genera- 
tion, linked  to  the  body  of  memories — sweet  and  other- 
wise— of  many  million  citizens  North  and  South,  the  most 
powerful  political  machine  of  the  Middle  Period,  the  politi- 
cal organization  out  of  a  section  of  which,  as  from  a  rib  of 
Adam,  had  been  evolved  in  a  sense  the  Confederacy  itself, 
a  party  which  had  certainly  done  things,  and  which  at  this 

S19 


520  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

time,  1867-68,  was  the  powerful  national  opponent  organi- 
zation of  the  then  arrogant  and  victorious  Union-Repub- 
lican Party, — verily  "  Democracy  "  came  to  life  throughout 
the  Southern  states  revived  by  even  its  past  sins,  recrystal- 
ized  by  the  desperation  of  the  Southern  whites,  and  disci- 
plined by  the  exigencies  of  the  present. 

Except  for  a  limited  infusion  of  former  Whigs,  "  Union 
men  ",  and  Northern  Democrats  lately  come  South,  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  Democratic  party  in  Florida  was  substantially 
the  same  as  it  had  been  in  1861.  Then  it  was  a  radical 
party  of  political  change  founded  upon  the  reactionary 
principle  of  state  rights;  now  it  was  a  conservative  party 
of  political  reaction  founded  upon  the  simpler  principle  of 
white  supremacy. 

In  the  town  of  Quincy,  Florida,  on  March  31st,  1868, 
just  a  year  after  the  inauguration  of  military  rule,  Conser- 
vative politicians  came  together  for  a  conference.  Their 
immediate  object  was  to  make  nominations  for  the  elections 
to  be  held  when,  according  to  the  orders  of  General  Meade,^ 
the  newly-framed  constitution  should  be  submitted  in  May 
to  the  votes  of  the  people.^  Opposition  to  the  adoption  of 
the  proposed  constitution  was  here  announced  as  the  policy 
of  the  Conservative  party.  No  one  knew  then  just  what 
constitution  Congress  would  finally  submit  to  the  voters  of 
Florida.  Congress  was  radical,  and  the  Radicals  of  Florida 
had  laid  before  the  Reconstruction  committee  in  Washing- 
ton an  instrument  which  if  adopted  would  bar  from  politi- 
cal office  and  the  ballot-box  a  leading  class  of  Southern 
whites  and  incidentally  deliver  the  state  government  into 
the  hands  of  eight  negro  counties.*  There  was  ample  reason 

*  Gen.  Ords.,  no.  41,  issued  by  Meade  from  Atlanta,  Mch.  16,  1868; 
supplementary  order  Mch.  17, — An.  Cyclop.,  1868-9. 

*  Florida  Union,  Apr.  4,  1868 ;  Floridian,  Apr.  7,  1868. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  4th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  109. 


A  REPUBLICAN  STATE  GOVERNMENT  521 

why  Southern  whites  should  oppose  this  part  of  Congres- 
sional reconstruction. 

A  ticket  was  chosen  non-sectional  in  character,  giving 
recognition  to  those  classes  which  were  then  being  fused 
into  the  new  Democracy:  namely,  ex-Confederate  (former 
Democrats  and  Whigs),  Southern  Unionists  (former 
Whigs,  mostly),  and  men  from  the  North.^  The  three 
well-defined  sections  of  the  state  were  considered,  and  the 
candidates  picked  from  West,  Central,  and  East  Florida. 
George  W.  Scott,  of  Leon  County,  was  nominated  for 
governor.  Scott  was  a  former  Democrat  who  had  fought 
in  the  Confederate  army.  Thomas  W.  White,  of  Jackson 
County,  was  nominated  for  lieutenant-governor.^  White 
was  an  ex-Whig  and  had  been  a  Unionist  during  the  war. 
John  Friend,  of  Nassau  County  was  nominated  for  Con- 
gress. Friend  was  a  Northerner  and  a  Federal  office- 
holder. Presumably  he  was  a  "  Johnson  man "  with  a 
Democratic  past. 

The  nominations  were  eminently  respectable  and  seem- 
ingly wise.^  Political  meetings  in  several  towns  quickly 
ratified  the  decision  of  the  state  convention.  In  Pensacola, 
Lake  City,  Quincy,  Monticello,  and  Tallahassee  endorse- 
ment was  voted  amid  lively  campaign  speeches  and  slapdash 
resolutions.*     Most  men  of  property  were  in  the  ranks  of 

*  See  references  to  this  point, — H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22, 
V.  13,  p.  147;  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  17,  etc. 

*  White  declined  the  nomination,  Floridian,  Mch.  14,  1868.  Jas.  W. 
Hall  of  Escambia  Co.  was  nominated  for  lieut.-gov.  to  replace  White, 
— Floridian,  Apr.  4,  1868. 

••  Floridian,  Apr.  7,  1868. 

*  Meetings  in  Leon  Co.  and  Gadsden  Co. — Floridian,  Apr.  7  and  14, 
1868;  at  Pensacola,  Escambia  Co. — Floridian,  Apr.  21;  in  Jefferson 
Co. — Jefferson  Gazette,  Apr.  17,  Floridian,  Apr.  28;  Lake  City,  Colum- 
bia Co. — Floridian,  May  5,  etc. 


522  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

the  Conservative  party.  Yet  in  spite  of  this  fact  and  of 
meetings,  resolutions,  and  speeches,  the  Democratic  cam- 
paign did  not  go  forward  with  decision  and  vigor/  Some- 
thing was  wrong.  Probably  the  new  leaders  who  had  re- 
placed to  some  extent  the  ante-bellum  chiefs  were  lacking 
in  experience.  The  negro  vote  was  about  as  unresponsive 
to  Conservative  influence  in  the  spring,  as  it  had  been  in 
the  previous  autumn.^ 

Republican  leaders  meanwhile  were  trying  to  harmonize 
the  discordant  elements  of  their  party.  In  the  constitu- 
tional convention  during  February  a  very  savage  disagree- 
ment had  been  unveiled.^  It  will  be  remembered  that  two 
constitutions  had  been  adopted  and  sent  to  the  reconstruc- 
tion committee  of  Congress.  One  came  from  the  radical 
"  Rump  "  convention  under  the  control  of  Billings,  Rich- 
ards, and  Saunders ;  the  other,  from  a  reorganized  conven- 
tion controlled  by  more  moderate  men  and  advised  by  the 
military.  General  Meade  sent  his  approval  with  the  latter,* 
which  did  not  proscribe  politically  a  class  of  one-time 
Confederates,  as  did  the  "  Rump  "  convention's  constitu- 
tion. 

Radical  leaders  in  Washington  took  the  matter  under  ad- 
visement, and  finally  on  April  14th  the  Reconstruction  com- 

'  See  letter  of  Scott,  Floridian,  Apr.  7,  1868. 

'  The  Federal  military  anticipated  serious  attempts  at  economic 
coercion  by  the  southern  white  planter  of  his  negro  employees.  Gen. 
Ords.,  no.  41,  calling  the  election,  stated  that  '"no  contract  or  agree- 
ment "  with  laborers  made  for  the  purpose  of  controlling  their  vote 
would  be  permitted  to  be  enforced  against  them.     An.  Cyclop.,  1868-9. 

*  The  Radical  Party  was  actively  holding  mass  meetings,  see  Florida 
Union,  Apr.  4,  1868;  Floridian,  May  5,  1868.  At  a  Radical  meeting 
in  Tallahassee  on  May  2  the  speeches  were  so  violent  and  incendiary 
that  the  military  interfered, — Floridian,  April  28,  1868. 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  297. 


A  REPUBLICAN  STATE  GOVERNMENT 


523 


mittee  put  its  approval  on  the  more  liberal  instrument  en- 
dorsed by  General  Meade.  ^ 

This  pronouncement  by  Republican  leaders  in  Washing- 
ton helped  create  Republican  solidarity  in  Florida,  but  failed 
to  bring  complete  harmony.  Liberty  Billings,  Daniel  Rich- 
ards, and  the  men  with  them  prepared  to  oppose  the  adop- 
tion of  the  constitution  and  the  election  of  the  regular 
Republican  ticket  because  the  constitution  rejected  by  Con- 
gress came  from  the  radical  faction,  which  Billings  and 
Richards  led.  The  regular  Republican  ticket  had  been 
chosen  by  the  members  of  the  constitutional  convention  im- 
mediately after  the  last  formal  adjournment.^  It  in- 
cluded Harrison  Reed,  ex-journalist  and  Federal  postal 
agent,  late  of  Wisconsin,  for  governor ; '  William  M. 
Gleason,  lumberman  and  land  speculator,  also  late  of 
Wisconsin,  for  lieutenant-governor ;  *  and  Charles  M. 
Hamilton,  an  ex-officer  of  the  Federal  army  and  Freed- 
men's  Bureau,  late  of  Pennsylvania,  for  Congress.®  No 
one  of  the  three  had  been  in  the  constitutional  convention. 

^  N.  Y.  Times,  Apr.  5,  1868.  Thad.  Stevens  and  Chief  Justice  Chase 
both  endorsed  this  instrument. 

»  An.  Cyclop.,  1868-9. 

»  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  38th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  18,  p.  88. 

*  Floridian,  July  7,  1868.  Concerning  Gleason's  career  the  following 
hostile  account  is  taken  from  the  La  Crosse  (Wis.)  Dem., 
"  Gleason  was  a  resident  of  Eau  Claire  not  long  since.  In  1856  he 
was  engaged  in  the  loyal  occupation  of  returning  votes  for  a  town- 
ship in  Eau  Claire  Co.  where  no  election  was  held,  and  was  then  en- 
gaged in  bank  speculation  that  did  not  add  much  to  his  reputation 
for  honesty.  After  Gleason  left  Wisconsin  he  bought  an  interest  in 
the  Crawford  Co.  Bank  located  at  Meadeville,  Penn.,  but  was  un- 
successful to  swindle  the  public  to  any  great  extent.  After  the  failure 
of  the  bank  he  engaged  in  various  enterprises — among  others  in  ob- 
taining money  upon  worthless  checks,  for  which  he  was  arrested,  and 
the  records  of  the  Eldridge  St.  jail  there  show  that  he  was  an  in- 
mate for  some  time." 

'  For  biographical  comment  see  N.  Y.  World,  Sept.  22,  1868. 


524 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


The  other  faction  ("Rump  Convention"),  it  will  be  re- 
membered, had  named  a  state  ticket  before  dispersing. 
Billings  was  to  be  governor.  All  of  the  nominees  had 
been  delegates  to  the  convention. 

The  negro  leader,  Saunders,  who  had  worked  inti- 
mately with  Billings  and  Richards,  changed  about  suddenly, 
quit  his  former  political  associates,  and  publicly  declared 
that  he  would  support  Reed  and  the  constitution.^  He 
attacked  in  speech  his  old  associate  Billings,  stigmatizing 
him  publicly  as  a  "  liar  ",  a  "  seducer  ",  and  "  a  carpet- 
bagger ".^     Saunders  had  influence  among  the  negroes. 

The  independent  Republican  nominees  made  a  cam- 
paign.^ Billings  hoped  to  control  the  negro  vote  through- 
out the  state  as  he  had  done  recently  in  the  convention. 
He  preached  to  the  blacks  in  their  churches,  kissed  their 
babies,  and  told  them  that  "  Jesus  Christ  was  a  Republi- 
can." *  His  auditors  moaned  approval  sometimes  and 
sometimes  howled  him  down  when  he  attempted  to  speak. 
He  and  his  friends  were  in  fact  out  of  the  regular  Republi- 
can organization,  with  its  many  tentacles  reaching  like 
the  fingers  of  a  devil-fish  the  individual  negro  through  the 
Freedmen's  Bureau,  Lincoln  Brotherhoods,  Union  Leagues, 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  and  colored  Baptist  churches. 
Federal  office-holders  and  negro  schools."  He  and  Rich- 
ards withdrew  from  the  contest  before  the  election,  beaten 

*  See  letter  of  Saunders — Floridian,  Apr.  21,  1868;  also  Floridian, 
Apr.  14 — reference  to  a  statement  by  Saunders  in  the  Florida  Union^ 
Apr.  II,  giving  reasons  for  change.  Saunders  claimed  that  the  "Bill- 
ings Party"  owed  him  $897.00. 

*  Floridian,  Apr.  28,  1868 — see  extract  from  Jefferson  Gazette,  Apr.  14. 

*  Floridian,  Apr.  21,  May  5,  1868.  Billings  campaign  was  hottest  in 
West  and  Central  Florida. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  63. 

»  Floridian,  Apr.  28,  1868. 


A  REPUBLICAN  STATE  GOVERNMENT  525 

or  bribed.  Samuel  Walker,  the  nominee  for  lieutenant- 
governor,  strangely  enough,  stayed  in  the  field. 

Thus  the  Republican  party  in  Florida  went  into  the 
spring  elections  of  1868  with  ranks  divided.  Its  strength 
lay  in  the  black  vote.  It  was  a  black-man's  party  shrewdly 
and  unscrupulously  led  by  a  few  score  carpet-baggers  and 
scalawags.^ 

Radical  leaders  were  bent  on  crushing  out  completely  any 
hope  of  Conservative  success.  In  the  voting  for  delegates 
to  the  then  recent  constitutional  convention  several  thou- 
sand whites  had  been  disfranchised  under  the  Federal  Re- 
construction Laws.  Would  the  same  proscription  be  made 
in  the  voting  for  the  constitution  and  for  a  state  govern- 
ment under  it?  Now  that  a  constitution  was  formed, 
would  its  very  provisions  admitting  the  proscribed  whites 
to  the  polls  and  to  office  be  respected?  Would  the  voting 
be  governed  by  the  new  constitution  or  the  Federal  laws 
of  March  2nd  and  23rd,  1867?  These  were  the  most  acute 
political  questions  before  the  people  during  the  spring  of 
1868. 

The  recent  convention  had  decreed  that  the  provisions  of 
the  constitution  be  applied  on  election  day,  admitting  to  the 
polls  those  whites  barred  out  by  the  Reconstruction  Law. 
General  Meade,  military  commander,  was  importuned  by 
Radicals  in  Florida  not  only  to  annul  the  ordinance  of  the 
convention  admitting  disfranchised  whites  to  the  polls,  but 
also  to  order  that  the  election  in  question  be  held  one  month 
earlier  than  the  convention  had  fixed  it — in  April  instead  of 
May.^    What  was  the  object  in  such  haste?    Several  thou- 

*  C.  'R.  Mobley,  a  Republican  member  of  the  state  senate,  estimated 
that  the  number  of  carpet-baggers  in  the  State  would  not  exceed  300, 
— Floridian,  Aug.  11,  1868.  Two  years  earlier  J.  W.  Recks,  Federal 
treas.  agent,  estimated  the  white  Union  vote  at  300.  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C, 
1st  S.,  no.  30,  p.  3. 

^Rpt.  Sect.  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  p.  95— Meade  to  Grant,  Feb.  29,  1868; 
p.  99;  Meade  to  Grant,  Mch.  13. 


526  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

sand  whites  were  still  unregistered/  If  the  election  came 
before  they  could  register,  the  local  Republican  party  would 
gain  thereby.  The  Radicals  insisted  that  if  the  Southern 
whites  were  given  a  chance  they  would  defeat  or  delay 
Reconstruction.  There  was  truth  and  logic  in  the  conten- 
tion. Meade  asked  Grant,  head  of  the  army,  for  advice, 
and  Grant  advised  allowing  all  to  vote  according  to  the 
terms  of  the  constitution  framed  and  then  to  be  voted  on." 
Meade  followed  the  advice  herewith  given. 

The  election  passed  off  quietly  on  May  6th,  7th,  and 
8th.^  For  fourteen  days  prior  to  the  opening  of  the  polls 
the  registration  lists  were  in  process  of  revision.  Pre- 
viously disfranchised  whites  now  admitted  to  the  suffrage 
were  enrolling.  The  voting  was  for  governor,  lieutenant- 
governor.  Congressmen,  and  members  of  the  legislature, 
as  well  as  for  the  adoption  or  rejection  of  the  constitution. 

"  Scott  may  poll  five  votes  to  Reed's  one,  and  Reed  will 
be  elected,"  A.  A.  Knight  declared.  "  We've  got  the  whole 
thing  in  our  hands — the  ballot-boxes,  the  registrars,  the 
mail  agents,  and  all."  *     A  few  weeks  later  Knight  was 

*  11,148  whites  were  registered  up  to  date.  13,698  were  registered 
for  this  election.  The  normal  voting  strength  of  Florida  in  1861  was 
about  14,000.  See  chapter  in  "  Registration  and  Political  Organi- 
zation," supra. 

»  Rpt.  Sect.  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  p.  96. 

*  Ibid.,  1868-9,  V.  I,  p.  103— Meade  to  Grant,  Apr.  8;  N.  Y.  Herald, 
May  8,  1868 — dispatch  from  Key  West. 

*  Tallahassee  Sentinel,  May  7,  1868.  This  conversation  of  Knight's 
attracted  attention.  It  was  quoted  in  the  Floridian,  and  Knight  was 
asked  by  J.  B.  Oliver,  editor  of  the  Sentinel,  to  repeat  the  statement 
in  the  presence  of  a  witness,  which  he  did,  adding :  "  Billings  and 
Walker  have  got  off  here  [the  conversation  was  on  a  railway  train] 
to  hold  a  Billings  meeting  called  to  meet  here  by  their  friend  Cone. 
Billings  wrote  to  Cone  to  assemble.  Billings'  letter  went  to  the  train. 
We  [Knight  and  his  friends]  went  on  the  same  train  that  carried 
the  letter.  We  opened  it  and  wrote  another  one  saying :  '  Dear  Cone ; 
there  is  no  chance  for  us.     Go  for  the  Reed  ticket.    Tell  your  people '. 


A  REPUBLICAN  STATE  GOVERNMENT 


527 


appointed  to  a  circuit  judgeship  by  the  new  governor. 
The  Conservatives  claimed  that  just  such  fraud  as  Knight 
had  arrogantly  hinted  at  had  been  perpetrated.  Their 
claims  for  some  localities  were  authenticated — as  such 
things  can  be  by  affidavits  and  other  testimony.^  The  vot- 
ing had  gone  heavily  against  the  Conservatives.  But  it 
was  not  fraud  on  the  part  of  Radical  election  officials 
which  defeated  them.  The  fundamental  reason  was  failure 
to  have  enough  registered  votes  at  the  party's  disposal — 
poverty  of  Conservative  white  votes.  The  registered  blacks 
far  outnumbered  the  whites,  and  they  went  solidly  with  the 
Republican  party. 

The  result  was  substantially  what  it  had  been  in  the 
autumn  elections  for  a  convention.  Many  whites  had  re- 
mained away  from  the  polls.  If  all  had  voted  the  net  re- 
sult for  the  state  would  not  have  been  different.  14,561 
votes  were  cast  for  the  constitution;  9,511  against  it.  It 
was  therefore  adopted  by  a  large  margin.  The  Republican 
ticket  headed  by  Reed  received  14,421  votes,  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket  headed  by  Scott,  7,73 1 ;  and  the  independent 
Radical  ticket  headed  by  Samuel  Walker,  2,251.  24,403 
voters  cast  their  ballots.^     The  total  number  of  registered 

We  signed  '  Liberty  Billings '  to  it  and  put  it  in  the  old  envelope  and 
sent  it  to  Cone,  and  Cone — a  darn  fool — thought  it  was  all  hunky." 
This  is  a  suggestion  of  one  way  for  Republican  postal  officials  to 
help  beat  the  enemy. 

*  N.  Y.  World,  June  25,  1868, — 5  affidavits  presented  from  Madison 
Co. ;  Floridian,  May  12,  1868.  Madison  Messenger,  May  8,  1868,  stated 
that  the  regis' ration  books  showed  1554  whites  and  blacks  voted, 
yet  1800  ballots  were  taken  from  the  box.  The  Republicans  carried 
the  county.     Also,  An.  Cyclop.,  1868-9. 

*  Rpt.  Sect.  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  p.  106,  Meade  to  Grant,  June  2.  Fig- 
ures in  Floridian,  June  9,  containing  tbe  vote  in  detail  by  counties  vary 
somewhat  from  Meade's  figs.  According  to  them  14,520  votes  were 
cast  for  consti'ution,  9,511  against  it.  Reed  received  14,178  votes, 
Scott  7,852  and  Walker  2,257.  The  statements  in  the  Floridian  are 
later  than  those  of  Meade.     Also,  Floridian,  May  12. 


528  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

voters  was  31,498.  Thus  7,095  did  not  vote.  The  regis- 
tration books  showed  13,698  white  voters  and  17,800 
black.' 

At  high  noon,  on  June  8th,  Governor  Reed  was  sworn 
into  office  by  Judge  Thomas  Boynton — late  of  Ohio — of 
the  Federal  district  court.  The  oath  was  administered  in 
the  presence  of  both  branches  of  the  newly-elected  legis- 
lature assembled  in  the  capitol  building  at  Tallahassee.^ 
Reed  was  a  little  man,  slightly  built,  with  a  big,  bald  head 
and  a  bushy  beard — almost  goat-like — the  upper  lip  shaven 
clean.  A  full  fringe  of  hair  on  three  sides  of  the  bald  spot,  a 
high  forehead,  and  heavy  spectacles  gave  him  an  owl-like 
appearance,  which  accentuated  his  calm  moderation  and 
well-poised  personal  address.  His  views  on  public  questions 
were  usually  balanced,  definite  and  clear — due  perhaps  to 
his  long  journalistic  and  business  experience;  and  his  way 
of  doing  things,  not  clear,  often  smacking  of  commercialism, 
and  suggestive  of  just  that  training  in  the  competitive 
sphere  of  business  and  politics  which  made  him  definite, 
concrete,  and  plausible.  For  many  years  Harrison  Reed 
had  been  a  publisher  and  editor,  first  in  Milwaukee  and  later 
in  Neemah  and  Madison,  Wisconsin.  "  Reed  is  a  fussy 
old  granny,"  wrote  an  East  Florida  Republican,  Calvin 
Robinson,  to  Reed's  arch-enemy,  Stickney,  "  but  I  think  he 
is  honest  and  sincere."  Stickney  had  written :  "  Reed  hangs 
around  like  the  itch.  I  can  hardly  meet  him  without  spit- 
ting in  his  face."  '  He  finished  his  denunciation  by  calling 
him  a  "  damn  fool  ".  Stickney  had  been  stealing  from  the 
Federal  government.  Reed  had  opposed  his  plans,  and 
hence  these  statements.     A  citizen  of  Wisconsin,  called  to 

•  The  registration  lists  had  been  revised — Gen.  Ord.,  no.  41,  Mch.  16. 
2  Floridian,  June  9,  1868 ;  A^.  Y.  Herald,  June  14,  1868 ;  N.  Y.  World, 
June  17,  1868. 
»  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  38th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  18,  p.  6. 


A  REPUBLICAN  STATE  GOVERNMENT 


529 


testify  before  a  committee  of  Congress,  said  of  Reed :  "  He 
is  generally  regarded  in  the  State  as  a  high-minded,  honest, 
and  honorable  man.  I  never  heard  his  truth  and  veracity 
questioned.  As  a  business  man  his  character  is  that  of  a 
prompt  and  honest  man  who  always  pays  his  debts."  ^ 

His  career  in  Florida  showed  him  to  be  shrewd,  com- 
bative, and  intriguing  in  dealing  with  men,  but  not 
smooth.  He  moved  with  a  high  hand — as  a  benevolent 
political  boss. 

He  turned  from  the  judge  and  the  Bible  to  address  the 
future  legislators  of  Florida.  As  his  eyes  swept  that  little 
gathering  of  lawless  law-makers  he  must  have  had  sad 
misgivings.  Nearly  a  third  of  those  assembled  were  from 
party  reasons  hostile  to  him,  and  the  majority  of  the  others 
were  negroes  and  whites  whose  enlightenment  was  veiled 
and  whose  reputations  could  not  be  easily  damaged.  "Once 
assembled  they  will  do  as  they  please,"  wrote  General 
Meade  a  week  earlier — "  pass  laws  inconsistent  with  my 
powers  and  orders ;  and  tax  ad  libitum  the  State  treasuries 
without  any  control,  and  without  any  means  of  enforcing 
their  acts  except  through  me."  ^ 

The  legislature  chosen  was  preponderantly  Republican. 
In  the  senate  were  sixteen  Republicans  and  eight  Demo- 
crats; in  the  house,  thirty-seven  Republicans  and  fifteen 
Democrats.^  Of  these  seventy-six  senators  and  represen- 
tatives thirteen  were  denominated  as  "  carpet-baggers ", 
twenty-one  as  Southern  loyalists  or  "  scalawags  ",  nineteen 
as  negroes,  and  twenty-three  as  white   Conservatives  or 

1  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  38th   C,  2nd   S.,  no.   18,  p.  88,   testimony  of  J.   F. 
Potter  before  Committee  investigating  Florida  tax  commissioners. 
'  Rpt.  Sect.  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  pp.  105-6. 

»  Floridian,  May  9,  1868.  A^.  Y.  Herald,  June  14,  1868.  The  Con- 
stitution provided  for  53  members  in  the  assembly.  See  Const.,  Art. 
16,  Sec.  29,  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114. 


530  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Democrats.  The  Conservative  representation  came  from 
the  poor  white  counties,  outside  of  the  great  plantation  dis- 
trict. Most  of  the  Republican  legislators  came  from  the 
Black  Belt — the  richest  and  most  populous  portion  of  Flor- 
ida. The  editor  of  the  Floridian  stated  that  if  the  Demo- 
crats were  not  considered,  a  fair  estimate  of  the  wealth  of 
the  other  fifty-three  members,  minus  the  value  of  their 
clothes,  would  be  less  than  $i,ooo.  It  is  certainly  true  that 
the  Republican  representatives,  as  a  class,  were  not  exten- 
sive property-holders  in  Florida  or  out.  Some  of  them  at 
the  time  of  their  election  were  Federal  office-holders. 

At  that  moment  the  status  of  the  legislature  was  as 
uncertain  as  that  of  the  small  man  in  spectacles  who  stood 
addressing  its  members  with  his  hand  on  the  Bible.  Re- 
construction was  being  directed  by  the  Federal  govern- 
ment and  the  reorganized  state  governments  in  the  South 
received  their  authority  to  exist  from  its  sanction.  The 
Federal  military  had  controlled  and  directed  the  election  in 
Florida  as  well  as  the  canvassing  of  the  votes.  The  con- 
vention had  ordered  that  all  returns  be  sent  to  the  state 
canvassing  board.  The  military  commander  interfered  and 
ordered  all  returns  sent  to  the  state  superintendent  of  regis- 
tration. Certificates  of  election  were  issued  by  the  military. 
"  My  object,"  said  Meade,  "  was  to  retain  control  of  the 
whole  subject,  because  if  the  legislature  is  permitted  to 
convene  without  orders  from  me  and  without  regard  for 
the  paramount  authority  which  the  Reconstruction  Laws 
vest  in  me,  interminable  confusion  and  conflict  of  authority 
will  be  sure  to  follow."  ^ 

On  June  9th,  the  day  following  the  first  meeting  of  the 
legislature,  Reed  laid  before  the  body  a  number  of  tele- 
grams which  helped  explain  the  actual  position  of  the  new 

'  Rpt.  Sect.  War,  1868-9,  v.  i,  p.  105. 


A  REPUBLICAN  STATE  GOVERNMENT 


531 


state  government  of  Florida/  Colonel  Flint,  commanding 
Federal  troops  at  Tallahassee,  had  telegraphed  General 
Meade  for  instructions  in  regard  to  the  proper  policy  of 
the  military  toward  the  reorganized  civil  government. 
Meade  answered  through  his  adjutant-general  stating  that 
the  military  was  to  acknowledge  in  no  way  the  newly-insti- 
tuted government  until  Congress  had  approved  of  its  ex- 
istence.   The  legislature  adjourned  until  June  15th. 

The  Radical  Republicans  in  Congress  were  expending 
their  efforts  to  bring  Florida  and  five  other  commonwealths 
back  into  the  Union  at  an  early  date.^  The  Presidential 
election  was  approaching  and  the  political  restoration  of 
the  South  was  desired  by  Republicans  because  the  vote  of 
that  section,  now  dominated  by  crushing  negro  majorities, 
would  be  for  them.  Johnson  continued  to  oppose  the  policy 
of  Congress.  He  vetoed  the  bill  which  would  admit  to 
Congress  representatives  from  those  reconstructed  South- 
ern states  whose  legislatures  would  ratify  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment.  The  bill  became  law  on  June  25th,  over  the 
President's  veto.* 

Both  houses  of  the  Florida  legislature  had  given  their 
assent  on  June  9th  to  the  amendment.*  During  June  17th, 
1 8th  and  19th,  the  legislature  had  chosen  United  States 
senators.^  Adonijah  Strong  Welch,  white,  late  of  Michi- 
gan and  then  a  teacher  in  a  negro  school,  was  elected  for 

*  Floridian,  June  16,  1868.  Gov.  Reed  was  in  touch  with  the  Wash- 
ington authorities.  He  had  been  in  Washington  during  May, — Flori- 
dian, May  26,  1868. 

'  Dunning,  Reconst.  Polit.  and  Ec,  pp.  1 18-19;  Rhodes,  U.  S.,  v.  2; 
Floridian,  June  23,  1868,  report  on  Florida  Const,  by  the  Lower  House 
of  Congress,  June  12. 

*  McPherson,  Reconstruction,  pp.  337-8. 

*  The  house  23  to  6;  the  Senate  10  to  3.  Flack,  Adoption  of  Four- 
teenth Amendment,  p.  190 ;  McPherson,  Polit.  Man.,  1868,  p.  93. 

'  Floridian,  June  23,  1868. 


532  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

the  short  term  ending  March,  1868;  and  Thomas  W.  Os- 
born,  one-time  bureau  commissioner,  late  of  New  Jersey, 
for  the  long  term  ending  in  1873/ 

Osborn  was  admitted  to  the  Senate  June  30th,^  after 
some  wrangling  over  his  credentials  and  a  last  attempt  by 
Conservatives  to  force  a  consideration  of  the  claims  of  the 
other  senators-elect,  Call  and  Marvin.  Senator  Doolittle, 
in  bringing  up  the  latter's  case,  said:  "  In  1866,  almost  a 
year  and  a  half  after  the  war  was  over,  after  peace  had 
been  proclaimed  and  Congress  had  by  law  recognized  the 
fact  that  peace  was  proclaimed,  the  legislature  of  Florida — 
the  state  being  then  in  a  peaceful  condition — assembled  and 
elected  the  person  to  whom  I  have  referred  and  whose  cre- 
dentials I  have  presented  to  the  Senate."  ^  But  the  Senate, 
controlled  by  Radicals,  paid  little  heed  to  such  talk.  Os- 
born was  sworn  in;  Welch  followed  him  on  July  2nd.* 
Charles  M.  Hamilton,  late  of  Pennsylvania  and  now  Con- 
gressman-elect from  Florida,  took  his  seat  in  the  House  on 
the  first  day  of  July.  Thaddeus  Stevens  presented  his  cre- 
dentials.' 

Reconstruction  in  Florida  had  progressed  favorably  so 
far  by  the  last  of  June  that  General  Meade  proceeded  to 
bring  to  an  end  military  rule  there.  June  29th  he  notified 
Colonel  Sprague,  commanding  in  Florida,  to  prepare  to  re- 
linquish the  administration  of  affairs  to  the  civil  authori- 
ties."     Governor   Walker   informed   Governor-elect   Reed 

»iV.  Y.  World,  Sept.  22,  1868;  Floridian,  June  23,  1868. 

*  Cong.  Globe,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  pt.  4,  p.  3607.  Also  N.  Y.  Times,  July 
I,  1868;  N.  Y.  Herald,  July  i,  1868. 

'  Cong.  Globe,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  pt.  4,  p.  3604. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  3672.  *  Ibid.,  pp.  3614,  3655. 

*  Gen.  Ords.,  no.  92 — "All  civil  officers  holding  office  by  military  ap- 
pointment" were  directed  to  turn  over  their  offices  to  their  properly 
elected  and  qualified  successors. 


A  REPUBLICAN  STATE  GOVERNMENT  533 

that  he  was  prepared  to  surrender  the  office  to  him.^  On 
the  following  day,  July  2nd,  Reed  announced  to  Colonel 
Sprague  that  the  conditions  precedent  to  the  readmission 
of  the  state  into  the  Union  had  been  complied  with. 
Sprague  thereupon  issued  a  proclamation  stating  that  civil 
government  would  be  resumed  on  July  4th.^  The  transfer 
of  authority  was  formally  made  on  that  day  in  the  presence 
of  both  houses  of  the  legislature  assembled  in  joint  ses- 
sion.* The  day  was  celebrated  by  the  "  loyal  "  over  the 
state  for  both  historical  and  immediate  reasons.  The  per- 
iod of  military  rule  was  over,  and  the  state's  political  des- 
tinies were  in  the  hands  of  negroes  and  newcomers.*  On 
July  31st,  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the  Federal  con- 
stitution was  formally  ratified  by  the  Florida  legislature. 
Thus  the  state  before  the  end  of  summer  passed  with  re- 
stored political  powers  back  into  the  Union.  The  Congres- 
sional plan  of  reconstruction  had  been  applied.  More 
than  one  citizen,  probably,  wondered  how  it  would  work 
out. 

In  the  local  application  of  actual  government  throughout 
Florida  much  depended  upon  the  state's  chief  executive. 
The  new  constitution  provided  that  all  county  officers  ex- 
cept constables  be  appointed  by  the  governor  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  senate.  The  governor  could  remove  all  such 
officers  without  the  senate's  consent.**     Thus  much  power 

*  Walker  to  Reed,  July  i,  An.  Cyclop.,  1868-9. 

*  McPherson,  Polit.  Man.,  1868,  pp.  59-61 ;  An.  Cyclop.,  1868-9, 
'An.  Cyclop.,  1868-9. 

*  On  July  27  the  War  Dept.  at  Washington  discontinued  the  2nd  and 
3rd.  Military  Dists.  and  grouped  the  states  constituting  them  into 
the  Dept.  of  the  South.  On  August  4  Col.  Sprague  issued  an  order 
that  Florida  was  now  the  "Dept.  of  Florida".  On  Aug.  5,  U.  S. 
military  forces  in  Florida  were  ordered  to  be  concentrated  in  three 
military  posts  in  different  parts  of  the  State. — An.  Cydop.,  1868-9. 

'  Constitution,  Art.  6,  Sec.  19— H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S..  no.  114, 
pp.  T-i-i^. 


534  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

was  lodged  in  the  central  administration  at  Tallahassee. 
While  this  provision  protected  the  Black  Belt  from  com- 
plete negro  domination,  yet  it  subjected  the  white  counties 
to  Republican  control.  The  situation  would  have  been  re- 
versed under  an  elective  system. 

This  system  of  creating  county  government  by  executive 
appointment  did  not  prove  in  itself  a  bad  plan.  Governor 
Reed  circumspectly  used  his  power.  The  new  executive 
seemed  honestly  seeking  to  establish  a  respected  and  strong 
government  for  Florida,  backed  by  a  Republican  party 
with  a  creditable  reputation.^  The  task  was  a  difficult  one. 
Proper  material  was  lacking  within  the  Radical  ranks. 

Reed  sought  to  divide  the  offices  between  carpet-baggers, 
scalawags,  and  negroes — admitting  even  white  Conserva- 
tives. The  latter  on  accepting  office  under  a  Republican 
administration  did  not  necessarily  lose  caste  as  Conserva- 
tives. By  August  25th,  the  governor  had  appointed  198 
white  men  to  office  within  the  state,  50  of  whom  were  from 
the  North  and  148  from  the  South.^  In  the  newly-consti- 
tuted supreme  court,  two  of  the  justices  were  Southern  and 
one  Northern.^  All  three  were  men  of  good  character  and 
substantial  reputation  in  their  profession.  In  the  state  cir- 
cuit court,  five  of  the  judges  were  Southern  and  two  North- 

*  See  speech  made  by  Reed  at  St.  Augustine,  Aug.  26,  from  Fla. 
Union ;  in  A^.  Y.  Times,  Sept.  14,  1868 ;  also,  his  speech  before  Jackson- 
ville Board  of  Trade.  He  here  made  an  earnest  appeal  to  his  friends 
and  enemies  to  help  him  carry  on  a  decent  govt. ;  Floridian,  Nov. 
3,  1868;  also  Floridian,  Dec.  15,  1868;  speech  at  Tallahassee,  A^.  Y. 
World,  Dec.  22,  1868. 

'  Floridian,  Aug.  25,  1868. 

*  The  Chief  Justice  was  Ed.  M.  Randall,  a  Northern  man,  brother 
of  the  Postmaster  General.  The  associate  justices  were  O.  B.  Hart, 
a  native  Republican  and  during  the  War  a  Union  man ;  and  James 
D.  Westcott,  Jr.,  a  Southerner — son  of  former  U.  S.  Senator  Wescott, 
a  Democrat,  Floridian,  Aug.  11,  1868. 


A  REPUBLICAN  STATE  GOVERNMENT 


535 


em.^  Of  the  white  county  officials,  134  were  Southern  and 
thirty-nine  Northern.^  In  Reed's  own  cabinet,  six  were 
Northern  and  two  Southern — the  most  important  position 
at  the  time,  that  of  comptroller,  being  filled  by  an  aristo- 
cratic Southerner,  former  Whig  and  ex-Confederate,  Rob- 
ert H.  Gamble,  of  Tallahassee.^  The  attorney-general  was 
James  D.  Wescott,  another  Southerner  from  the  same  class 
who  had  supported  the  Confederacy  and  held  slaves. 

The  governor  gave  political  recognition  to  negroes.  The 
total  number  of  county  offices  at  his  disposal  was  468.  In 
addition  he  could  create  as  many  justices  of  the  peace  as  he 
wished/  Scores  of  these  offices — probably  the  majority — 
were  filled  by  negroes.  Many  of  the  black  incumbents  could 
neither  read  nor  write.  Black  voters  had  elected  the  gov- 
ernor and  the  senate.  The  chief  executive,  therefore,  in 
admitting  them  to  office  only  gave  to  the  majority  of  his 
backers  the  recognition  which  they  demanded.  Some  of 
them  were  slightly  above  barbarism,  but  the  inevitable  end 
of  the  Reconstruction  program  was  to  call  forth  to  places 
of  administrative  and  judicial  trust,  "  loyal  men  ",  regard- 
less of  enlightenment  and  fitness. 

Governor  Reed  should  be  given  the  credit  of  appointing 

^  Floridian,  Aug.  11,  25,  1868.  1st  Circuit,  Judge  H.  G.  Plantz  and 
Atty.  D.  C.  Hawkins;  2nd.,  Judge  W.  A.  Cocke,  Atty.,  F.  A.  Dockray; 
3rd.,  Judge  T.  T.  Long  and  Atty.  J.  W.  Warrock;  4th.,  Judge  A.  A. 
Knight,  Atty.  E.  K.  Foster;  5th.,  Judge  J.  H.  Goss,  Atty.  J.  W. 
Culpepper;  6th.,  Judge  J.  T.  Magbee,  Atty.  C.  R.  Mobley;  7th.,  Judge, 
J.  W.  Price,  Atty.  Oscar  Hart. 

*  Floridian,  Aug.  25,  1868. 

»  See  letter  in  N.  Y.  World,  September  17,  1868. 

*  See  Constitution  of  1868,  Art.  6,  Sec.  19;  Art.  7,  Sec.  7,  9  and  19. 
The  officers  appointed  by  the  Governor  were :  a  county  tax  assessor 
and  collector,  treasurer,  surveyor.  Supt.  of  Common  Schools,  five 
county  commissioners,  sheriff,  and  clerk,  county  judge,  twelve  officers 
for  each  county.    There  were  *.hen  (1868)  39  counties  in  Florida. 


536  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

a  good  supreme  court,  a  fair  cabinet,  a  circuit  bar  and 
judiciary  of  rather  uneven  respectability  and  ability,  and 
county  officials  not  altogether  bad — probably  better  than 
what  would  have  been  the  case  if  the  offices  had  been 
filled  by  election.  The  only  local  officers  elected  were 
county  constables — from  two  to  twelve  for  each  of  the 
thirty-nine  counties.^  Negroes  were  usually  returned  for 
these  positions.  The  governor  undoubtedly  found  it  diffi- 
cult to  get  good  men  to  accept  office,  and  to  induce  the 
senate  to  confirm  his  nominations  when  he  found  them. 
"  The  governor  was  forced,"  stated  a  Republican, 

to  appoint  men  as  county  judges  and  solicitors,  some  of  whom 
it  was  very  doubtful  as  to  whether  they  had  ever  seen  the 
inside  of  a  law  book.  Many  of  the  carpet-bag  officeholders, 
anterior  to  their  advent  in  the  South,  had  been  blatant  Demo- 
crats at  the  North,  but  not  even  respectable  cross-road  poli- 
ticians, yet  who  now  claimed  to  be  great  men  and  proper 
leaders  of  the  colored  people  of  the  State.^ 

Before  local  Republican  rule  in  Florida  was  inaugurated 
the  national  presidential  campaign  had  opened.  Delega- 
tions from  the  state  attended  both  great  national  conven- 
tions.^ In  Chicago  the  Southern  delegates  arrived  weakly 
prepared  to  vote  for  Henry  Wilson  or  Fenton,  for  second 
place  on  the  national  ticket,  but  soon  they  began  to  turn 
in  various  directions.*  The  nomination  of  Grant  for 
first  place  was  assured.  "  We  are  poor  and  want  money," 
was  the  constant  complaint.  A  friend  of  Wade  is 
said  to  have  gone  to  one  of  the  Florida  delegates 
with    the    request    that    he    and    his    confreres    support 

»  Constitution,  1868,  Art.  VI. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  82-83. 

»  A^.  Y.  Herald,  May  21  and  July  8,  1868. 

*  N.  Y.  Times,  May  21,  1868;  A^.  Y.  World,  May  29,  1868. 


A  REPUBLICAN  STATE  GOVERNMENT  537 

Wade.  The  thrifty  Floridian  wished  to  know  what  Wade 
would  do  for  him.  "  Why,"  said  he,  "  if  I  go  for  Fenton 
I  can  get  my  expenses  paid  to  this  convention."  ^  How- 
ever, when  the  acclaim  went  up  for  Grant,  it  is  recorded 
that  "  Florida,  the  land  of  flowers,  casts  her  vote  for 
U.  S.  Grant."  ^  It  is  not  recorded  that  the  expenses  were 
paid. 

The  Conservatives  of  Florida  sent  a  group  of  locally- 
prominent  and  able  men  to  represent  the  state  at  the  Demo- 
cratic convention  in  New  York.  Several  of  them  were  ex- 
Confederates  and  ante-bellum  leaders.^  They  took  an 
active  part  in  the  work  of  the  convention.*  In  the  long 
balloting  for  a  nominee  the  vote  of  Florida  swung  from 
Johnson  to  Hancock,  then  to  Doolittle,  then  to  Hendricks, 
then  back  to  Hancock,  again  to  Hendricks,  and  finally  with 
the  others,  the  Florida  delegation  followed  the  political  law 
of  the  "  band  wagon  "  and  went  for  Seymour,  the  nomi- 
nee." 

The  Presidential  campaign  in  Florida  opened  with  a 
Republican  ratification  meeting  in  Tallahassee  July  4th. 
On  this  day  the  Republican  legislature  and  administration 

*  .V.  Y.  World,  May  29,  1861 ;  H.  M.  Moody  of  Fla.  was  one  of  the 
vice-presidents  of  the  Chicago  Convention, — N.  Y.  Herald,  May  21, 
1861. 

*  N.  Y.  Herald,  May  22,  1868. 

*  The  Florida  delegates  were  22  in  number, — A^.  Y.  World,  June 
30,  1868. 

*  C.  E.  Dyke  was  appointed  to  Nat.  Dem.  Ex.  Commit., — N.  Y. 
Times,  July  8,  1868.  C  H.  Smith  was  a  Sect,  of  Convention;  Thos. 
Randall,  a  vice-pres. ;  Wilk.  Call,  member  of  Committ.  on  Resolutions 
and  Platform ;  A.  J.  Peeler,  of  Commit,  on  Organization ;  A.  H. 
Hewling,  of  Comit.  on  Credentials, — N.  Y.  Herald,  July  5  and  7,  1868 
Dyke  delivered  an  address  before  the  Metropolitan  Club  in  New  York 
City  on  the  political  situation, — N.  Y.  World,  July  29,  1868. 

»  N.  Y.  Herald,  July  8  and  9,  1868;  N.  Y.  Times,  July  8  and  10,  1868. 


538  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

formally  took  over  from  the  military  the  direction  of  the 
state  government.  A  special  train  was  run  from  Jackson- 
ville. "  Probably  the  largest  crowd  was  here,  ever  before 
at  any  time,"  the  Floridian  announced.  Negroes  streamed 
up  and  down  the  streets.  There  was  "  much  marching  and 
counter-marching,  beating  of  drums  and  shouting.  The 
chief  object  was  the  ratification  of  the  nomination  of 
Grant  and  Colfax."  A  large  platform  was  built  on  the 
west  side  of  the  capitol  building,  around  which  were  var- 
ious inscriptions,  such  as  "  Grant  and  Colfax  ",  "  Liberty 
and  Union,  We'll  have  or  Die  ",  etc.  During  all  of  that 
scorching,  sun-baked  July  day  the  "  Capitol  Square  "  was  a 
mass  of  moving,  odoriferous,  and  garrulous  humanity,  and 
"  as  the  procession  moved  down  the  streets  there  could  be 
seen  various  covered  boxes  carried  on  poles  bearing  Radi- 
cal inscriptions."  ^ 

In  spite  of  two  crushing  defeats  within  nine  months  the 
Conservative  party  seemed  to  take  on  a  greater  activity 
and  a  new  aggressiveness.  Over  the  entire  state  many  per- 
sons previously  passive  in  a  sort  of  political  hibernation 
now  crept  out  of  their  holes  and  exhibited  interest  in  that 
which  their  more  pugnacious  friends  had  been  trying  to 
make  interesting.  The  Presidential  campaign  promised  to 
produce  a  solid  and  full  alignment  of  native  whites  in  sup- 
port of  the  Democratic  party.  The  Conservative  forces  of 
the  state  now  coalesced  into  an  integral  part  of  the  Demo- 
cracy of  the  nation.  In  more  than  a  score  of  localities, 
from  extreme  West  to  East,  Democratic  campaign  clubs 
were  formed;  "Seymour  and  Blair  Clubs",  they  were 
popularly  called.^      Democratic  orators  stumped  Florida, 

*  Floridian,  July  7,  1868. 

*  Floridian,  Aug.  n,  18;  Sept.  S,  22,  29;  Oct.  20,  1868.  At  Orlando, 
Florida,  on  Aug.  29th  a  Conservative  mass  meeting  was  followed  by 
a  parade  with  inscribed  banners  borne  by  young  girls. 


A  REPUBLICAN  STATE  GOVERNMENT 


539 


and  county  after  county,  catching  from  the  nation  at  large 
the  political  note  in  the  air,  awoke  to  the  contest/ 

On  August  1st  a  Democratic  state  convention  assembled 
at  Tallahassee.  The  heat  of  summer  enveloped  the  land. 
It  burned  up  enthusiasm  as  it  distilled  the  last  odors  from 
fast  fading  flowers.  Yet  delegates  from  twenty-six  coun- 
ties came  through  the  heat  over  Florida's  crude  routes  of 
travel  to  talk  politics  at  the  capital.^  Nearby  counties  sent 
big  delegations  to  swell  the  crowd.  "  Whigs,  Democrats, 
and  Conservatives  mingled  in  a  common  cause."  Ex-Gov- 
ernor Walker  was  nominated  for  Congress,  but  on  account 
of  failing  health  he  declined.  William  D.  Barnes,  of  Jackson 
County,  West  Florida,  received  the  nomination.^  The  day 
was  blatant  with  political  speeches.  In  the  evening  a 
"  torch-light  procession  "  wound  its  course  along  the  prin- 
cipal streets  and  lanes.  The  way  was  well  shadowed  from 
the  pale  glow  of  the  stars  by  monster  live  oaks — twisted, 
knarled,  vaguely  outspreading  and  draped  in  the  grey  Span- 
ish moss  of  the  far  South.  The  very  obscurity  and  sug- 
gested mystery  of  the  shadows  made  the  political  trans- 
parencies the  more  brilliant.  They  gleamed  out  grotesquely 
with  such  fierce  aphorisms  as :  "  No  Compromise  with  the 
Carpet-baggers ",  "  Military  Subordinate  to  the  Civil ", 
"  One  Currency  for  All  ",  "  Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Rob- 
bery ",  "  Put  in  300  Ticks,  in  the  Ballot-Box  and  Count 

*  Floridian,  July  21,  Sept.  22,  25,  1868.  Mass  meetings  in  Gainesville, 
Aug.  2, — extract  from  Gainesville  Commercial;  si>e€ches  by  W.  D. 
Bloxham,  St.  George  Rogers.  C.  E.  Dyke  and  W^ilk.  Call.  Barbecue 
and  speeches  at  Centre;  orators  were  Barnes  of  Jackson  Co.,  Dyke 
of  Leon  Co.,  Stanley  of  Escambia  Co.  Similar  meetings  at  Waukeena, 
Mariarma,  Madison,  and  Crawfordsville, — Floridian,  Oct.  27  and  Nov. 
5,  1868.  The  Floridian  contained  many  excerpts  from  the  accounts 
of  local  press. 

*  Floridian,  Aug.  4,  1868. 

3iV.  F.  Tribune,  Aug.  15,  1868;  N.  Y.  World,  Aug.  10,  186&— letter 
from  Tallahassee ;  Floridian,  Aug.  4,  1868. 


540  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

out  500.  Gadsden  Is  the  Place  Where  Ticks  Propagate  ", 
or  even  worse,  such  witticisms  as  "  Radicals,  You  Have 
Seen  much  but  you  Shall  See-More  in  November  ",  "Demo- 
crats, Grant-less  and  See-More  ".  A  string  band  seated  in 
a  wagon  attracted  attention  away  from  the  poorness  of  the 
puns.  From  vine-covered  verandas  people  watched  the 
crowd  move  by  through  the  dim  light.  Straggling  troops 
of  negroes,  who  a  few  weeks  before  had  marched  with  the 
Radicals,  now  followed  the  music  of  the  other  procession. 
To-morrow  they  would  be  Radicals  if  a  procession  and 
music  came  along. 

The  Republican  party  had  secured  control  of  the  state 
government.  They  intended  not  to  risk  this  control,  but 
to  withdraw  from  the  realm  of  uncertainty  the  electoral 
vote  of  Florida.  Accordingly  the  legislature  enacted  a 
law  on  August  the  6th  which  left  to  the  joint  action  of  the 
senate  and  house  the  choice  of  presidential  electors.^  Both 
bodies  were  overwhelmingly  Republican.  Therefore  the 
Democratic  campaigning  in  Florida,  so  far  as  the  national 
election  was  concerned,  amounted  to  nothing  more  than  a 
series  of  indignation  meetings  against  the  Radical  party. ^ 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  15th  Assembly,  ist  Sess.  See  Comment  N.  Y . 
Times,  Aug.  8,  1868;  A^.  Y.  World,  Aug.  11,  1868;  N.  Y.  Tribune. 
Oct.  27,  1868. 

*  Threats  were  made  by  conservatives  to  have  an  election  regardless 
of  the  state  law.  A  letter  from  Jacksonville,  Sept.  11,  discussing  the 
situation  says:  "The  [Democratic!  Executive  Commi'tee  will  appoint 
the  necessary  judges  and  inspectors  of  election  for  Nov.  3  next.  At 
sundown  the  polls  will  be  closed,  votes  counted,  and  the  votes  sent 
to  Washington.  The  Radicals  laugh  at  this  plan,  saying  that  there  is 
no  possibility  of  Congress  receiving  these  votes.  The  Democrats  are 
carrying  on  a  vigorous  campaign.  The  Radicals  make  no  opposition. 
They  consider  the  plan  Quixotic.  Whether  the  State  Government  will 
permit  the  vote  to  be  taken  is  a  question  not  yet  answered.  The 
carpet-bag  officials  regard  the  entire  movement  as  illegal  and  a  revo- 
lutionary defiance  of  the  laws  of  Florida,  but  opinions  differ  as  to 
what  course  they  will  pursue."    N .  Y .  Herald,  Sept.  26,  1868. 


A  REPUBLICAN  STATE  GOVERNMENT  541 

Governor  Reed  claimed  that  the  state  at  that  time  could 
not  stand  the  expense  of  another  election.  The  Democrats 
claimed  that  the  Republicans  feared  that  they  would  lose 
the  election.  Negro  registration  was  several  thousand 
greater  than  white  registration.  Yet  the  local  Republican 
party  was  then  subject  to  serious  internal  dissension.  It 
had  been  divided  in  the  last  election.  Also  the  operations 
of  Democratic  regulators  were  in  several  localities  a  terri- 
fying menace  to  Republican  activity.  The  governor  and 
the  legislature  had  already  requested  the  President  to  put 
Federal  troops  at  the  disposal  of  Governor  Reed  in  order 
to  protect  the  state  government  and  the  lives  and  property 
of  Republicans.  The  President,  on  the  advice  of  General 
Schofield,  Secretary  of  War,  refused  to  grant  so  radical  a 
request.^ 

Local  conditions,  therefore,  might  have  defeated  the 
Republicans.  What  actually  happened  however  was  that 
on  November  2nd  the  legislature  convened  in  joint  session 
and  by  a  safe  vote  chose  three  Republican  electors  for 
Grant  and  Colfax.     One  of  them  was  a  negro. ^ 

*  Johnson  Papers, — Resolution  of  Fla.  Legislature,  July  g;  letter  of 
Reed  to  Johnson,  July  13 ;  Johnson  to  Schofield,  July  22 ;  Schofield  to 
Johnson,  July  23. 

'  A^  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  5,  1868.  The  electors  were :  Jas.  D.  Green 
(white),  J.  W.  Butler  (white),  Rbt.  Meacham  (Black).  The  Demo- 
crats put  up  candidates  for  each  place; — W.  D.  Bloxham,  Wilk.  Call, 
<j.  A.  Stanley. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

Conflict  Among  Radicals — Two  Governors  of 
Florida 

The  next  few  days  witnessed  the  development  in  Talla- 
hassee of  an  interesting  imbroglio  among  Republican  poli- 
ticians. Its  origin  is  to  be  sought  in  the  flat  failure  from 
the  first  of  Florida  Radicals  to  work  together  harmon- 
iously. When  they  gained  control  of  the  state  govern- 
ment and  the  restraint  of  military  rule  was  removed,  the 
discord  became  more  pronounced.  Leaders  fought  vic- 
iously over  the  control  of  Federal  patronage,  legislative 
favors  ( franchises,  land-grants,  etc. )  and  the  many  positions 
at  the  disposal  of  the  state  administration.  The  legislature 
elected  Thomas  W.  Osborn  to  the  United  States  Senate  for 
the  long  term  ending  in  March,  1873.  His  previous  experi- 
ence in  Florida  as  bureau  commissioner  and  politician  as 
well  as  his  ability  and  talent  for  intrigue  made  him  the 
senator  through  whose  hands  passed  most  of  the  scanty  but 
much-desired  Federal  patronage  for  the  state.  He  used 
this  privilege  to  build-up  his  own  influence  within  his 
party. 

Governor  Reed  had  been  a  Federal  office-holder  of  local 
importance  for  several  years.  As  general  postal  agent  for 
Florida  he  had  played  a  part  in  distributing  Federal  favors. 
Reed  was  considered  a  Johnson  man.  Osborn  acted  in  har- 
mony with  the  Radical  majority  in  Congress.  He  had  left 
the  Freedmen's  Bureau  to  fill  the  more  remunerative  place 
of  Federal  commissioner  of  bankruptcy.     He  obtained  this 

542 


CONFLICT  AMONG  RADICALS 


543 


position  through  the  efforts  of  Chief  Justice  Chase/  Reed 
was  bitterly  opposed  to  Chase  and  those  allied  with  him. 
Thus  these  two  men — Osborn  and  Reed — both  seeking  to 
manage  the  award  of  Federal  patronage,  were  allied  with 
antagonistic  factions  in  Washington. 

Within  the  state  almost  one  hundred  post-masters,  si^ 
judicial  offices  in  two  district  courts,  a  commissioner  of 
bankruptcy,  about  fifty  customs  employees,  fifty  treasury 
employees,  two  public  land  officers  and  two  internal  revenue 
officers  held  their  places  and  received  their  salaries  from  the 
Federal  government.  Their  salaries  amounted  to  about 
$75,000  per  year;  their  total  earnings,  to  far  more  than 
this.  Mail  contracts  amounted  to  $50,000  more.^  Osborn 
sought  to  control  the  award  of  places  and  funds.  So  did 
Reed.  The  senator  and  the  governor  were  neither  like- 
minded  nor  friendly.^  They  both  sought  ultimately  the 
same  thing — state  leadership  among  the  Republicans. 

The  appointing  power  of  Reed  under  the  new  constitu- 
tion undoubtedly  put  into  his  hands  a  means  for  building-up 
a  strong  personal  following.  More  than  500  officers  held 
their  places  under  commissions  from  the  governor.  But  he 
was  forced  to  regard  the  likes,  dislikes  and  advice  of  the 
state  senate,  which  ratified  his  appointments.  A  number  of 
that  body  were  in  close  sympathy  politically  with  United 
States  Senator  Osborn.     He  had  given  or  promised  them 

^  Floridian,  June  23,  1868. 

*  U.  S.  Official  Register,  1867. 

•  Reed  to  Wallace,  Feb.  1867 — Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  441.  Reed  wrote: 
"  On  that  occasion  a  conspiracy  was  formed  by  Osborn  and  his  mili- 
tary satraps — to  depose  me  by  violence  and  take  possession  of  the 
Capitol.  This  was  within  a  few  months  after  my  inauguration  in 
consequence  of  my  refusal  to  obey  their  dictation  to  vandalize  the 
State  ...  It  embraced  all  the  prominent  Federal  office-holders  in  the 
State,  from  the  marshal  down,  most  of  whom  were  in  the  legislature, 
subject  to  orders  from  Osborn  under  penalty  of  removal." 


544  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

and  others  Federal  positions  or  jobs.  He  could  help  the 
worthy  to  places  beyond  the  state.  The  United  States  gov- 
ernment paid  in  greenbacks  and  gold ;  the  state  government, 
in  depreciating  scrip.  Cash  was  scarce  in  Florida.  The 
favors  at  Osborn's  disposal  were  worth  more  than  those  at 
the  disposal  of  Reed.  The  political  influence  of  the  gov- 
ernor tended  to  be  neutralized  by  the  United  States  sen- 
ator.^ Reed  was  combative  and  troublesome.  Osborn 
would  see  him  eliminated.  So  would  many  in  the  legisla- 
ture who  feared  his  veto  when  there  was  legislation  to  be 
sold. 

The  governor  was  not  smooth.  In  his  efforts  to  produce 
a  state  government  respected  and  forceful  he  went  too  far 
for  his  own  good.  He  soon  offended  not  only  the  mass  of 
native  whites,  who  were  prejudiced  against  him  because 
he  was  a  Republican  and  a  Northern  man,  but  also  a  por- 
tion of  his  own  party.  His  request  of  the  legislature  for  a 
law  authorizing  him  to  employ  secret  police,^  his  issue  of  a 
circular  calling  for  an  enumeration  of  outrages  suffered  by 
Republicans,  and  his  purchase  of  fire-arms  in  the  North  for 
the  arming  of  the  state  militia — partly  black — offended  the 
native  whites.  They  professed  to  see  in  these  measures  a 
dangerous  and  offensive  design  to  spy  on  them,  and  to  en- 
force tyrannically  the  will  of  Republican  politicians  by  the 
barbarous  means  of  a  negro  militia.  There  was  plaus- 
ibility in  this  point  of  view. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  governor  offended  the  Republi- 
can legislature  by  his  efforts  to  conduct  the  state  govern- 
ment in  what  he  considered  an  honest  manner  and  in  accord 
with  sound  principles  of  public  finance.    In  face  of  unpopu- 

'  See  Reed's  estimate  of  the  part  Osborn  played ; — Floridian,  Dec. 
15,  1868. 

^  Law9  of  Florida,  15  Assembly,  ist  Sess.,  Chapt.  1660.     See  Com- 
ment in  N.  Y.  Herald,  Aug.  5,  1868. 


CONFLICT  AMONG  RADICALS  545 

larity  with  those  politicians  who  wished  to  hold  two  or 
more  offices  at  once,  Reed  declared  vacant  the  seats  in  the 
legislature  occupied  by  men  who  had  subsequently  accepted 
state  or  county  office/  This  action  was  open  to  question 
from  the  standpoint  of  constitutional  law.  Nothing  in  the 
constitution  directly  bestowed  on  the  chief  executive  this 
sweeping  power  of  removal. 

Other  incidents  soon  demonstrated  the  breach  between 
executive  and  legislature.  A  bill  for  the  incorporation  of 
the  "  Florida  Savings  Bank  "  was  vetoed  by  Reed  because 
he  considered  it  part  of  a  dishonest  scheme  of  New  York 
"  money  sharks  ".^  Another  bill  came  to  him  giving  ne- 
groes all  the  privileges  of  whites  on  railway  trains.  He 
vetoed  it.^  A  third  bill  was  hurried  through  granting 
judges  their  salaries  per  diem  instead  of  by  the  year.  The 
governor  vetoed  it*  Finally  a  bill  was  passed  calling  on 
the  comptroller  to  pay  the  legislators  their  salaries  at  once 
in  state  scrip.  Reed  vetoed  it,  claiming  that  there  was  then 
no  money  in  the  treasury  to  pay  salaries  and  that  it  was 
neither  expedient  nor  wise  to  issue  scrip.  August  the  6th, 
the  bill  was  passed  over  his  veto.'  The  chambers  promptly 
adjourned.  The  war  between  governor  and  legislature  had 
fairly  begun. 

'  Proclamation  of  Reed; — Floridian,  Nov.  3,  1868.  There  were  14 
vacancies  according  to  the  governor's  view — 9  in  the  senate  and  5  in 
the  house. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  83.  Wallace  states  that  "  the  bill  was  tele- 
graphed from  New  York  by  L.  D.  Stickney,  one  of  Sec.  Chase's  Direct 
Tax  Commissioners  for  Florida.  A  check  for  $500  was  sent  to  Knight 
to  secure  its  passage." 

»  Floridian,  Aug.  11,  1868.  N.  Y.  Herald,  Aug.  4,  1868,  letter  from 
Tallahassee. 

*  Floridian,  Aug.  11,  1868. 

^  Laws  of  Florida,  15th  Assembly,  ist  Sess.,  Chapt.  1683;  N.  Y. 
Herald,  Aug.  8,  1868. 


e^6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

A  few  weeks  later  Reed  went  North.  Among  his  objects 
was  the  purchase  of  arms  for  the  state  militia.^  During  his 
absence  politics  went  against  him.  Lieutenant-governor 
Gleason  and  the  other  confederates  of  Senator  Osborn  were 
determined  to  get  rid  of  Reed  by  impeachment.  He  ham- 
pered the  legislature  and  had  offended  both  Gleason  and 
Osborn  personally  by  his  refusal  to  aid  them  in  certain 
financial  undertakings  which  smacked  of  outrageous  graft. 
During  the  July-August  session  of  the  legislature,  provi- 
sion had  been  made  for  the  issue  of  $300,000  in  bonds.' 
The  governor  had  control  of  the  emission  of  these  bonds. 
Gleason  wished  to  earn  money  out  of  this  transaction.  His 
plan  was  to  buy  the  bonds  with  scrip  which  he  could  pur- 
chase at  30  to  50  cents  on  the  dollar  and  then  to  sell  these 
bonds  in  the  North  for  70  cents.  He  claimed  that  arrange- 
ments were  completed  in  Washington  for  the  disposal  of 
the  bonds  at  this  figure.  The  estimated  profits  would  be 
from  $80,000  to  $100,000,  which  Gleason  was  willing  to 
divide  with  Reed.  The  governor  refused  to  sell  him  the 
bonds.' 

In  regard  to  the  personal  difference  with  Osborn,  Gov- 
ernor Reed  was  asked  by  that  individual  "  to  influence  the 
surveyor-general  so  that "  a  large  tract  of  timber  land  in 
West  Florida  "  might  be  sold  at  a  nominal  price  to  Sen- 
ator Osborn."     Reed  refused  to  act.* 

When  the  legislature  assembled  on  November  3rd,  1868, 
Reed  was  on  strained  terms  with  the  lieutenant-governor, 

^  Floridian,  Sept.  15;  Dec.  15,  1868. 

'  Laws  of  Florida,  15th  Assembly,  ist  Sess.,  Chapt.  1634 — passed  Aug. 
6,  Aug.  8,  1868. 

»  Floridian,  Dec.  15,  1868.  N.  Y.  World,  Dec.  22,  1868.  Gov.  Reed 
discussed  the  details  of  this  transaction  in  public  speeches  delivered 
in  Jacksonville  and  Tallahassee. 

*  Floridian,  Sept.  15,  Dec.  15,  1868;  N.  Y.  World,  Dec.  22,  1868. 


CONFLICT  AMONG  RADICALS  547 

with  Senator  Osborn  and  with  many  of  the  legislators. 
The  chambers,  sitting  to  choose  presidential  electors,  calle4 
upon  the  governor  to  convene  them  in  special  session  in 
order  that  money  might  be  appropriated  by  law  for  extra 
pay.  The  governor  was  informed  by  friends  that  the 
legislature  intended  not  only  to  pass  a  money  bill,  but  also 
to  impeach  him.^  Wishing  to  force  the  question  to  an  im- 
mediate issue  he  convoked  the  legislature.^ 

The  money  bill  came  to  him.  He  promptly  sent  it  back, 
November  6th,  with  his  veto.'  The  legislators  had  re- 
ceived their  salaries  and  nothing  in  the  constitution  or  in 
the  unwritten  law  of  ordinary  probity  justified  such  demand 
on  their  part  for  extra  pay.  The  bill  was  passed  over  the 
veto.* 

At  the  beginning  of  the  afternoon  session  of  the  house, 
Horatio  Jenkins,  Jr.,  a  member  of  the  senate,  presented 
charges,  as  "  a  private  citizen  ",  against  Governor  Reed. 
He  accused  him  of  "  falsehood  and  lying  "  in  transacting 
business  with  the  legislature ;  of  "  incompetency  "  in  ap- 
pointing state  and  county  officials ;  of  lawlessness  in  declar- 
ing seats  in  the  legislature  vacant ;  of  "  embezzling  "  state 
securities ;  of  corruption  in  the  disposal  of  state  offices.  For 
these  "  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors  "  Jenkins  demanded 
the  impeachment  of  the  governor  at  the  hands  of  the 
house."    J.  W,  Butler,  of  Santa  Rosa  County,  West  Flor- 

'  Floridian,  Dec.  15,  1868. 

*  Governor's  Proclamation,  An.  Cyclop,  1868-9.     See  preamble. 

*  Floridian,    Nov.    10,    1868.    An.    Cycle,    1868-9.     See    Reed's    veto 
message. 

*  Ibid. 

*  Ibid     Reed  claimed  that  the   charges   presented   against   him   by 
Jenkins  were  fabricated  by  Osborn.    Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  88-89. 


548  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

ida,  moved  that  Reed  be  impeached,  and  the  house  promptly 
voted  in  the  affirmative,  twenty-five  to  six/ 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  man  who  made  these 
charges,  Jenkins,  and  the  man  who  moved  their  acceptance 
by  the  house,  Butler,  both  had  accepted  office  by  appoint- 
ment from  Governor  Reed  and  both  were  in  danger  there- 
fore of  losing  their  places  in  the  legislature  by  the  action 
of  the  governor  in  declaring  these  places  vacant.  Also,  of 
the  twelve  senators  who  sat  waiting  to  receive  the  accusa- 
tions of  the  house,  three  besides  Jenkins  were  in  the  same 
predicament.^  A  house  committee  was  promptly  appointed 
to  go  before  the  senate  to  impeach  Reed;  and  another,  to 
prepare  definite  articles  of  impeachment  with  power  to  ex- 
amine witnesses  and  take  evidence. 

The  dramatic  contest  between  President  Johnson  and 
Congress,  which  had  occurred  but  a  few  months  before, 
served  as  an  example  for  these  commonwealth  impeachers. 
The  house  committee  proceeded  into  the  senate  chamber 
and  there  formally  impeached  the  governor.  The  upper 
house  took  under  consideration  the  question  of  the  trial. 
On  the  following  day,  November  7th,  both  houses  ad- 
journed until  the  first  Tuesday  after  the  first  Monday  in 
Japuary,  1869,  when  the  process  of  ousting  the  governor 
would  proceed.' 

Reed,  in  the  meantime,  was  little  inclined  to  be  passive 
or  compromising.  The  last  two  charges  made  by  Jenkins 
were  grave  and  concrete  enough  to  put  the  governor 
in  the  state  penitentiary  if  they  could  be  substantiated  with 

'  An.  Cyclo,  1868-9;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  7,  1868;  N.  Y.  Times,  Nov. 
9,  1868. 

'  Floridian,  Nov.  3,  10.  Dec.  i,  1868.  The  senators  were  Alden, 
Jenkins,  Meacham  (negro)  and  Mobley.  The  first  two  were  carpet- 
baggers.    The  last  was  a  scalawag. 

»  An.  Cyclo.,  1868-9. 


CONFLICT  AMONG  RADICALS  549 

reasonably  good  proof.  As  a  matter  of  fact  no  good  evi- 
dence was  ever  forthcoming  substantiating  any  of  the 
charges.  The  state  accounts  up  to  that  time  did  not  yield 
proof  of  executive  embezzlement.  If  Reed  traded  in  local 
offices  he  kept  the  proof  of  such  transactions  profoundly  to 
himself.  If  the  appointees  were  bad  or  incompetent,  the 
senate  was  equally  guilty  with  the  governor.  It  had  ratified 
his  choice. 

Seated  in  his  office  at  the  capitol  building  Reed  stroked 
his  bushy  beard  and  looked  out  of  the  window.  Wisconsin, 
his  old  home,  would  have  been  a  better  place  for  him.  In 
the  yellow  glow  of  the  afternoon  sun  the  live  oaks  were 
casting  their  shadows  far  across  the  square.  He  probably 
balanced  well  in  his  thoughts  the  factors  in  the  delicate 
situation.  How  much  he  knew,  we  know  not.  He  himself 
was  doubtful  of  what  he  thought  he  knew.  In  Florida  he 
was  an  "  outsider  "  and  by  the  Southern  whites  would 
never  be  judged  from  any  other  standpoint.  Most  of  his 
cabinet  would  be  loyal  to  him — Carse,  the  adjutant-general, 
Robert  Gamble,  the  aristocratic  comptroller,  and  the  others 
maybe,  except  the  secretary  of  state,  Alden,  from  Massa- 
chusetts.^ He  had  reason  to  distrust  Alden  by  this  time. 
That  gentleman  had  been  elected  to  the  state  senate.  Ac- 
cording to  Reed's  proclamation  his  seat  there  was  vacant 
because  he  held  another  office,  secretary  of  state ;  yet  Alden 
hung  to  his  position  in  the  legislature  and  was  thick  with 
Gleason,  the  lieutenant-governor.  The  legislature  had  been 
called  in  special  session  for  a  particular  object  defined  in  the 
executive  proclamation   assembling  it.      Could  that  body 

*  Alden  was  an  ex-officer  of  the  Fed.  Army  who  after  the  War  be- 
came an  express  agent  in  Pensacola.  See  A^.  Y.  World,  Sept.  17,  1868 
— letter  from  Tallahassee;  Floridian,  Nov.  3,  1868;  H.  Rpts.,  39th  C, 
1st  S.,  no.  30,  pt.  4,  p.  3. 


550  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

lawfully  impeach  while  assembled  to  pass  a  money  bill?^ 
Who  were  against  the  governor  ?  Reed  knew  that  the  ma- 
jority of  his  own  party  were  as  uncertain  in  their  public 
principles  as  the  autumn  wind  that  blew  gently  through  the 
live  oaks  outside.  The  Democrats  in  the  legislature  would 
try  to  convict  a  Republican  governor  for  the  sake  of  party 
politics  and  because  he  was  a  meddlesome  "  Yankee  ". 

News  came  to  Reed  on  that  afternoon  that  Gleason  had 
issued  a  proclamation  declaring  him  suspended  from  office 
pending  his  impeachment  trial,  and  stating  that  Gleason 
was  lawful  governor  of  Florida.^  The  proclamation  bore 
the  imprint  of  the  "  Great  Seal  of  the  State  ".  The  secre- 
tary of  state's  office  was  vacant.  Alden  had  deserted  his 
chief  and  taken  the  seal  with  him.^  Were  there  now  two 
governors  of  Florida? 

Reed  had  a  strong  helper  in  his  adjutant-general,  Carse. 
Carse  swore  out  a  warrant  before  Circuit  Judge  Cocke  af- 
firming that  Gleason  and  Alden  had  "  conspired  "  to  inter- 
fere forcibly  with  the  government  of  Florida.*     The  judge 

^  The  Constitution,  Art.  6,  Sec.  8  stated :  "  The  Governor  may  on 
extraordinary  occasions  convene  the  Legislature  by  proclamation,  and 
shall  state  to  both  houses,  when  organized,  the  purpose  for  which  they 
have  been  convened,  and  the  legislature  shall  transact  no  legislative 
business  except  that  for  which  they  are  specially  convened  or  such 
other  legislative  business  as  the  Governor  may  call  to  the  attention  of 
the  legislature  while  in  session,  except  by  the  unanimous  consent  of 
both  houses."    H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  114,  pp.  11-31. 

*  Floridian,  Nov.  10,  1868;  An.  Cyclo.,  1868-9. 

*N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  8,  1868,  letter  from  Tallahassee:  "Gov.  .Reed 
sent  North  for  a  duplicate  seal.  It  came  and  was  exactly  like  the 
original  except  the  figure  of  an  Indian  which  should  have  been  a 
female  was  a  male." 

*  See  Laws  of  Florida,  15th  Assembly,  ist  Sess.,  Chapt.  1637,  Sec. 
5 — "  If  two  or  more  persons  form  a  combination  to  usurp  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  State  by  force  they  shall  be  imprisoned  on  conviction 
for  a  period  not  exceeding  10  years  or  less  than  one  year." 


CONFLICT  AMONG  RADICALS 


551 


issued  a  warrant  for  their  arrest,  and  the  sheriff  of  the 
county,  loyal  to  Reed  who  had  appointed  him,  brought 
Gleason  and  Alden  before  the  judge.  He  bound  them  over 
to  appear  before  him  on  Friday.  They  were  allowed  to 
go  at  liberty  without  bond.^ 

Reed  was  determined  to  get  rid  of  Alden.  He  requested 
his  resignation,  but  the  secretary  refused  to  resign."  The 
governor  searched  about  and  trumped  up  a  charge  of  em- 
bezzlement against  Alden,  which  was  about  as  flimsy  as 
those  charges  brought  by  the  impeachers  against  himself.^ 
He  thereupon  declared  the  office  of  secretary  of  state  vacant 
and  appointed  a  negro,  Johnathan  Gibbs,  to  fill  the  vacancy. 
This  was  a  politic  move  on  Reed's  part.  He  had  created 
some  hostility  among  the  blacks  by  his  veto  of  the  negro- 
equality  railway  bill.  The  appointment  won  for  him  some 
applause  from  the  negro  members  of  the  legislature  and 
the  negro  populace.* 

Adjutant-General  Carse  and  the  county  sheriff  raised  a 
volunteer  picket  guard  and  picketed  the  capitol  building 
day  and  night  to  prevent  forcible  entry  by  the  Gleason 
party. ^  For  more  than  six  weeks  this  citizen  picket  line 
was  continued — a  critical  and  disgraceful  condition  cer- 
tainly for  a  government  in  time  of  peace.® 

Gleason,  finding  it  impossible  to  gain  possession  of  the 
regular  executive  offices,  took  his  seat  as  governor  of 
Florida  at  the  principal  hotel  of  the  town,  surrounded,  it 

*  Floridian,  Nov.  10,  1868. 
'  Floridian,  Nov.  17,  1868. 
'  Floridian,  Nov.  24,  1868. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  90. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  442 — Letter  of  Reed  to  Wallace,  Feb.  9,  1887. 

"  During  this  period  Reed  continued  to  act  as  Governor.    See  pro- 
clamation, Floridian,  Nov.  10,  24,  1868. 


552 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


is  said,  by  lobbyists  buying  future  favors/  From  there  he 
issued  orders  and  signed  proclamations  as  governor  of  Flor- 
ida, with  Alden  acting  as  his  secretary  of  state.^ 

The  Democrats  looked  on  and  smiled.  Congressional 
reconstruction  was  not  resulting  well.  Some  one  depicted 
the  situation  thus: 

"  Mister  Alden  had  managed — He's  good  on  the  steal — 
To  cunningly  carry  away  the  State  seal ; 
And  Gleason  and  he — what  a  prodigious  sell — 
Tried  to  run  the  machine  at  McGuffin's  Hotel."  ^ 

Alden's  relations  with  Reed  suggested  the  episode  of 
Secretary  Stanton  and  President  Johnson — then  fresh  in 
people's  minds.  Alden  was  represented  by  a  hostile  critic 
as  saying: 

"  I  thank  my  noble  hearted  friend,  his  compliments  accept ; 
The  Stanton  of  this  crowd  I'll  be  (and  here  the  traitor  wept)  ; 
Napoleon's  motto  shall  be  ours — we  may  not  now  withdraw — 
Let  us  march  on  to  victory  'gainst  justice,  peace,  and  law."* 

Senator  Sumner  had  laconically  told  Stanton  to  "  stick  " 
when  President  Johnson  was  attempting  to  get  rid  of  him. 
Although  the  situation  in  Florida  was  different  in  import- 
ant details,  there  was  sufficient  similarity  to  bring  out  this : 
"  Though  scripture  tells  us  it  is  hard  to  '  kick  against  the 

^  Floridian  for  month  of  Nov.,  1868;  An.  Cyclo.,  1868-9. 

^  See  for  instance  notice  of  proclamation  of  Gleason  and  Alden, 
N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  18,  1868,  Tallahassee  le'ter.  Gleason  attempted 
to  form  a  regular  cabinet;  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  8,  1868,  Tallahassee 
letter.  Gleason  and  Alden  signed  the  electoral  certificate  of  Grant 
and  Colfax  electors  from  Florida, — Floridian,  Dec.  8,  1868.  On  Nov. 
16  Gleason  issued  a  proclamation  declaring  a  second  time  that  Reed 
was  deposed  from  office,  and  stating  that  ho  was  under  arrest  be- 
cause of  his  impeachment, — An.  Cyclo.,  1868-9. 

•  From  "  The  Impeachment  Farce,"  Floridian,  Dec.  8.  1868. 

*  From  "  The  Impeachment  Caucus,  a  Satirical  Dramatic  Poem ", 
Floridian,  Dec.  8,  1868. 


CONFLICT  AMONG  RADICALS  553 

pricks  ',  Three  cheers  for  the  impeachment  game — Once 
more,  friend  Alden,  '  Stick  '."  ^ 

Unable,  or  unwilling,  to  drive  Reed  from  office  by  votes 
or  open  force,  his  enemies  attempted  to  frighten  him  into 
resigning.  "  Signal  rockets  "  were  sent  up  near  the  capitol 
hotel  as  supposed  signals  to  the  surrounding  country  that 
something  unusual  was  going  to  happen — mob  attack  or 
similar  dangerous  demonstration.  Negro  loafers,  black 
razor-carrying  prostitutes,  and  political  "  bums  "  crowded 
the  little  town's  few  streets  like  scavengers.  A  mob  under 
such  circumstances  was  no  impossibility.  In  the  dead  of 
night  guns  were  discharged  near  the  house  of  the  gover- 
nor. Stories  were  circulated  of  the  evil  that  would  come 
to  pass  if  Reed  persisted  in  occupying  his  office.  He  was 
followed  about  the  streets  by  a  notorious  character  accused 
of  more  than  one  paid  assassination.  Adjutant-General 
Carse  stated  that  the  assassination  of  Reed  was  deliberately 
planned  by  his  political  enemies  within  his  own  party — by 
Republicans — who  when  the  deed  had  been  perpetrated  in- 
tended to  lay  the  blame  on  "  Southern  Ku  Klux  ".^  The 
murder  of  a  Republican  governor  by  disloyal  and  criminal 
Southerners  would  be  fortunate  news  for  the  more  blood- 
thirsty agitators  among  the  Radicals  in  the  North. 

Reed  doggedly  held  his  ground.  He  was  a  stubborn  man 
as  well  as  a  canny  one,  and  by  bringing  about  the  interpo- 
sition of  the  judiciary  he  accomplished  what  President 
Johnson  in  his  contest  with  Stanton  attempted  unsuccess- 
fully to  do.  He  managed  to  shift  the  quarrel  over  the  gov- 
ernorship to  the  courts.  The  new  constitution  required  the 
supreme  court  to  render  the  governor  on  his  demand  a 
written  opinion  interpreting  "  any  portion  of  the  constitu- 

^  Floridian,  Dec.  8,  1868. 

2  Reed  to  Wallace,  Feb.  9,  1887,— Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  442. 


554 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


tion  "  or  "  any  point  of  law  ".^  Reed  took  advantage  of 
this  provision.^  "  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  bring  before  your  at- 
tention that  I  am  continuing  to  act  as  governor,"  he  stated 
to  the  court  on  November  3rd, 

and  that  said  Gleason  is  also  assuming  to  act  as  Governor; 
that  the  officers  of  the  State  do  not  know  in  this  unsettled 
and  anomalous  condition  of  things  whom  to  recognize  as  the 
head  of  the  Executive  Department;  that  the  administration  of 
the  State  Government  is  obstructed,  and  the  peace  and  safety 
of  the  whole  state  jeopardized.  It  is  but  natural  that  I  should, 
therefore,  under  such  circumstances  seek  your  counsel  and 
opinion  at  the  earliest  moment,  and  you  will  pardon  me  for 
urging  you,  in  view  of  the  possible  momentous  results  of  these 
issues,  to  furnish  me  your  opinion  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment.^ 

The  supreme  court  rendered  an  opinion,  November 
24th,  1868,  fully  sustaining  Reed — which,  in  brief,  de- 
clared that  the  governor  had  not  been  impeached  because 
the  senate  at  the  time  that  the  charges  were  preferred  was 
without  a  quorum.*  The  senate  was  composed  of  twenty- 
four  members.  Twelve  of  the  twenty-four  elected  had 
been  present,^  who  with  the  lieutenant-governor,  as  presi- 
dent of  the  senate,  made  up  a  constitutional  quorum,  thir- 

^  Constitution,  Art.  5,  Sec.  16, — H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  C,  no. 
114,  pp.  11-31. 

*  See  comment  in  N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  16,  1868 — Tallahassee  letter. 

*  Fla.  Reports,  v.  12,  pp.  658-9,  Ex.  Communication,  Nov.  9,  1868. 

*  Fla.  Reports,  v.  12,  pp.  661-685,  Ex.  Communications.  Also  see 
Floridian,  Nov.  17,  Dec.  i,  1868;  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  8,  1868. 

'The  12  Senators  present  were:  Alden  (Commissioned  by  Reed 
Sect,  of  State),  Jenkins,  (Judge,  Alachua  Co.),  Mcbley  (State's  At- 
torney), Meacham,  a  negro  (Clerk  of  the  Court,  Jefferson  Co.),  Krim- 
minger,  Katzenberg,  Morange,  Underwood,  Smith,  Bradwell,  and 
Pearce, — Floridian,  Nov.  3,  Dec.  i,  1868. 


CONFLICT  AMONG  RADICALS 


555 


teen.  But  four  of  the  twelve  had  accepted  state  office  and 
by  proclamation  of  the  governor  their  seats  in  the  legisla- 
ture were  vacant.  When  Reed  had  declared  vacant  the 
places  of  these  legislators  he  had  wrought  for  his  own  in- 
terests better  than  he  knew.  The  supreme  court  sustained 
him  in  his  removals  and  his  action  therefore  helped  save 
him  from  impeachment. 

The  pronouncement  of  the  supreme  court  proved  to  be 
the  end  of  this  first  effort  by  fellow  Republicans  to  drive 
out  their  chief  executive.  When  the  legislature  assembled 
in  January,  1869,  it  hesitated  to  combat  the  judiciary. 

Governor  Reed  on  receiving  the  opinion  of  the  court  be- 
came aggressive.  Through  his  attorney-general  he  insti- 
tuted quo  warranto  proceedings  in  the  supreme  court  on 
November  19th  against  the  lieutenant-governor.^  Gleason 
was  called  upon  to  show  cause,  why  he,  not  having  been  a 
citizen  of  Florida  for  three  years  before  his  election,  should 
not  be  ousted  from  office.  The  case  was  duly  tried  before 
the  supreme  court  and  Gleason  lost.^  The  ouster  was  issued 
on  December  I4th,^  and  the  place  of  lieutenant-governor 
became  temporarily  vacant. 

Reed  had  won  in  this  initial  contest  against  a  faction  of 
his  own  party.  "  On  that  occasion,"  he  afterward  stated, 
"  a  conspiracy  was  formed  by  Osborn  and  his  military 
satraps  and  the  Richards-Billings  faction  to  depose  me  by 
violence   and  take   possession   of  the  capitol.      This   was 

*  Fla.  Reports,  v.  12,  p.  193;  Floridian,  Nov.  17,  1868;  A^.  Y.  Herald, 
Nov.  17,  1868;  An.  Cyclo.,  1868-9;  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  90. 

*  Fla.  Rpts.,  V.  12,  passim.  Press  record,  see  A'^.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  20, 
25,  28,  39,  Dec.  I,  1868;  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Dec.  8,  1868;  Floridian,  Dec 
8,  15,  1868.  Col.  H.  Bisbee  of  Jacksonville,  an  ex-soldier  of  the 
Fed.  Army,  and  ex-Gov.  Walker  were  the  counsel  for  Gleason.  Gleason 
tried  to  get  his  case  before  the  Fed.  Courts,  Floridian,  Dec.  22,  1868. 

'  Floridian,  Dec.  15,  1868. 


556 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


within  a  few  months  after  my  inauguration,  in  consequence 
of  my  refusal  to  obey  their  dictation  to  vandalize  the 
State  ".^  This  of  course  was  his  view  of  the  trouble. 
Wherever  the  merits  in  the  case  might  have  resided,  the 
few  Democrats  in  the  legislature  divided  on  the  question 
of  impeachment.  Reed's  chief  refuge  had  proven  to  be  the 
state  courts.  A  Southern  ex-slave-holding  circuit  judge, 
William  A.  Cocke,  and  a  supreme  court  two-thirds  Southern 
in  its  personnel  had  sustained  him.  The  justice  who  ren- 
dered the  most  pronounced  opinion  in  his  favor  was  a 
Democrat  and  a  Southerner.  The  men  who  fought  out  suc- 
cessfully the  case  of  Reed  and  the  state  against  Gleason 
were  J.  P.  Sanderson,  M.  D.  Papy,  and  A.  J.  Peeler,  ex- 
Confederates,  Conservatives  and  Southerners.^  The  last 
two  had  framed  Florida's  Black  Code  three  years  before. 
And  "through  the  intervention"  of  William  D.  Bloxham, 
Conservative  leader,  the  notorious  Luke  Lott,  said  to  have 
been  sent  by  Republicans  to  Tallahassee  to  assassinate 
Reed,  was  persuaded  "  to  abandon  it  ".^ 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  441. 
'  Fla.  Reports,  v.  12,  p.  192. 

8  Written   Statement  of   Reed   to   Wallace,   Feb.   9,    1887,— Wallace. 
op.  cit,  p.  442. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

The  Outbreak  of  Lawlessness 

Radical  rule  was  accompanied  by  bloody  lawlessness. 
Physical  violence  characterized  the  period.  In  the  South 
old  party  lines  had  been  almost  destroyed  by  the  Civil 
War.  A  common  calamity  became  the  foundation  of  a 
common  political  faith  for  most  Southern  whites.  The 
Reconstruction  Acts  helped  on  this  unfortunate  tendency 
South — they  furthered  rigid  sectionalism.  Conservative 
Southerners  believed  that  the  local  government,  the  courts, 
and  the  laws  were  administered  in  most  cases  by  people 
hostile  to  them,  and  that  the  powerful  Federal  government 
stood  ready  to  protect  the  Radical  Southern  governments. 
A  common  consciousness  among  Southern  whites  of  over- 
powering injustice  borne,  inevitably  led,  in  every  Southern 
state,  to  a  toleration  by  usually  peaceable  citizens  of  vio- 
lence against  Radicals — black  and  white — because  such 
violence  was  considered  necessary,  if  not  righteous. 
"  Human  life  is  counted  cheap  when  passion  or  politics  call 
for  its  sacrifice,"  wrote  one  carpet-bagger  from  Florida  in 
the  midst  of  trouble,  "  and  the  frequency  and  cold  blood 
which  have  characterized  our  murders  has  not  been  to  me 
so  fearful  a  fact  as  the  carelessness  with  which  the  public 
learn  a  new  outrage."  ^  Out  of  such  a  dangerous  public 
opinion  in  the  South  grew  extended  secret  leagues  and  so- 
cieties whose  object  was  to  combat  Radical  rule. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  221-22, — Dickinson  t>> 
Gibbs,  Feb.  23,  1871. 

557 


558  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

In  other  Southern  states  actual  organization  among 
Southern  whites  to  oppose  real  and  fancied  oppression  was 
probably  more  complete  and  widespread  than  in  Florida. 
The  sinister  fame  of  the  "  Invisible  Empire  " — the  Ku 
Klux  Klan — spread  far  beyond  its  actual  field  of  opera- 
tions. Its  existence  in  Florida  was  openly  avowed  by  men 
who  evidently  possessed  very  vague  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject. The  terror  which  this  brotherhood  soon  excited 
tempted  local  regulators  in  this  state  to  employ  the  three 
K's  when  serving  notices  against  the  proscribed. 

"  It  was  just  eight  days  after  the  election  that  I  got  up 
one  morning  and  found  a  piece  of  paper  lying  inside  of  my 
gate  informing  me  that  if  I  remained  three  days  longer  I 
was  in  danger,"  testified  a  native  white  Republican,  "  scal- 
awag ",  before  the  Joint  Select  Committee  of  Congress  in 
1871. 

"  I  went  to  the  store  and  there  was  a  negro  man  standing 
on  the  store  steps  with  a  gun  in  his  hand.  There  was  a  big 
notice  on  the  store  that  they  would  give  me  24  hours  to 
leave.  ...  It  was  signed  '  K  K  K '  and  made  up  of  little 
words  cut  out  of  paper,  not  in  writing."  ^ 

The  negro  secretary  of  state,  Jonathan  Gibbs,  presented 
to  the  same  committee  a  report  from  Taylor  County,  *'  that 
a  body  of  men  had  come  into  Taylor  County  with  a  flag 
with  three  K's  on  it ;  that  they  had  alarmed  the  people  very 
much ;  had  committed  acts  of  violence  ".^ 

Emanuel  Fortune,  a  negro  shoemaker-politician  of  Jack- 
son County,  affirmed  under  oath  that  while  he  had  person- 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  C,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  70.  Testimony  of  Cone,  a 
scalawag.  He  claimed  to  have  experienced  this  in  Jan.,  1871.  He  gave 
his  testimony  in  November. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  221.  This  appearance  in  Taylor  County  was  in  August  or 
September,  1871.  Gibbs  stated  that  he  knew  a  man  who  knew  the 
ritual  of  the  Klan. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  LAWLESSNESS  559 

ally  never  seen  any  "  Ku  Klux  ",  yet  he  believed  in  their 
existence  in  Florida.  "  There  is  a  man,"  he  said,  "  who 
saw  two  disguised  men  eight  feet  high  sitting  in  the  moon- 
light in  the  place  where  they  finally  killed  a  man  "}  Many 
other  negroes  gave  similar  semi-spectral  testimony.^ 

L.  G.  Dennis,  the  intelligent  white  Republican  boss  of 
Alachua  County,  testified  that  he  had  been  "  threatened 
many  times.  I  have  two  letters  here,"  he  said,  "  as  follows 
— *  K  K  K.  No  man  e'er  felt  the  halter  draw  with  good 
opinion  of  the  law.  K  K  K.  Twice  the  secret  report  was 
heard.  When  again  you  hear  this  voice  your  doom  is 
sealed.  Dead  men  tell  no  tales.  K  K  K  .  Dead!  Dead! 
under  the  roses.  K  K  K.  Our  motto  is  death  to  Radicals. 
Beware.    K  K  K."  » 

E.  G.  Johnson,  a  white  Republican  of  Columbia  County, 
presented  to  the  Congressional  committee  a  letter,  received 
in  the  spring  of  1871,  containing  the  following  statements: 

It  is  the  united  and  sworn  voice  of  over  4,000  Floridians  to 
preserve  their  rights  or  lose  their  lives  in  its  defense ;  and 
what  is  resolved  is  not  the  effect  of  inconsiderate  rashness, 
but  the  sound  result  of  sober  deliberation  in  brotherhoods  and 
the  representatives  of  brotherhoods  in  council.  .  .  .  All  the 
Ku  Klux  laws,  all  the  courts,  all  the  soldiers,  all  the  devils  in 
hell  cannot  stop  the  resolves  of  the  brotherhoods.  The  de- 
stroyers of  our  rights — that  is,  unprincipled  leaders  such  as 
you,  if  they  persist,  will  fall  one  by  one;  it  is  sworn  to  by 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  94.  Fortune's  impressions 
were  received  in  Jackson  County  (W.  Fla.)  in  1868-70. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  54,  Sam.  Tutson,  1871,  Clay  Co.;  p.  109,  Hy.  Reed,  Jackson 
Co.,  1868;  p.  169,  C.  H.  Pearce,  Leon  Co.;  p.  221.  J.  C.  Gibbs; 
p.  272,  Rich.  Pooser,  Jackson  Co.,  1868-9;  P-  279,  Doc.  Roundtree, 
Suwanee  Co.,  1868;  p.  302,  H.  Byron,  Jackson  Co.;  p.  309,  L,  White. 
Jackson  Co. 

'  Ibid.,  pp.  269-271. 


56o 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


brave  men  who  are  obliged  to  act  in  secrecy  from  the  power 
of  circumstances.  It  is  left  to  you  whether  you  choose  death 
or  peace.  Krimminger  had  warning,  so  had  Dickinson,  so  had 
Mahoney;  so  now  have  you;  and  there  is  not  a  glimmer  of 
hope  left  for  you  if  you  persist  in  your  course  of  pretending 
to  be  elected.^ 

Johnson  was  murdered  in  the  dark  as  Krimminger,  Ma- 
honey and  Dickinson  had  been  murdered. 

The  seeming  impossibility  of  bringing  law-breakers  to 
punishment,  the  frightful  stories  of  weird  and  awful  experi- 
ences which  originated  from  no  man  knew  just  where,  the 
silent  cavalcades  of  horsemen  in  strange  disguise  who  went 
abroad  over  the  Black  Belt  with  halter  and  whip  at  night, 
the  bodies  of  dead  men  found  putrefying  in  "  sinks  "  and 
ponds,  and  such  threatening  notices  as  the  foregoing  with 
the  symbolic  K  K  K  often  attached, — induced  a  speculative 
opinion  even  among  men  of  moderation  and  intelligence 
that  Florida  was  under  the  hand  of  the  great  Klan.  Repub- 
lican politicians  exaggerated  reports  because  they  wished 
the  Federal  government  to  aid  them  in  combating  "  the  con- 
spiracy ". 

"  I  don't  know  what  it  terms  itself,"  said  Republican 
Judge  Bryson,  "  but  it  is  generally  termed  the  Ku  Klux."  ■ 

"  How  can  you  state  more  than  mere  opinion  upon  this 
subject?"  was  asked  of  W.  J.  Purman,  a  Radical  Bureau 
agent  and  politician.     "  Well,"  said  he, 

I  might  state  it  as  my  opinion,  that  it  is  the  spring  of  the  year 
because   I   see  the  leaves   springing  from  the  trees  and   the 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  261. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  258.  The  counties  of  Lafayette,  Taylor,  Suwanee,  Hamil- 
ton, Madison,  and  Taylor  were  embraced  in  the  judicial  circuit  cf 
Judge  Bryson. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  LAWLESSNESS  561 

vegetation  springing  from  the  earth,  I  might  give  it  as  my 
opinion  based  upon  facts  as  they  show  themselves  about  me 
that  it  is  the  spring  of  the  year.  In  the  same  way  I  give  it 
as  my  opinion  that  there  is  such  an  organization,  and  I  base  it 
upon  the  facts  as  they  show  themselves  to  me.  They  call  them- 
selves Invisible  Empire,  Ku  Klux,  or  anything  else  they  choose, 
but  they  are  a  combination.'- 

Purman  had  felt  the  iron  hand  of  the  "  combination  ". 
His  neck  bore  an  ugly  scar.  His  final  conclusion  was  sound, 
although  his  method  of  demonstrating  his  mental  process 
may  have  been  more  picturesque  than  convincing  to  the 
committee.  Combinations  did  exist  in  Florida  to  combat 
secretly  the  Radical  Republican  party.  The  most  powerful 
was  the  Young  Men's  Democratic  Club. 

This  organization,  founded  in  Leon  County  during  the 
summer  of  1868,  shortly  after  the  first  election  under  the 
new  Radical  constitution,  spread  quickly  over  a  large  por- 
tion of  Central  and  Southern  Florida.^  It  seems  to  have 
been  not  a  centralized,  state-wide  organization,  but  rather  a 
loose  confederation  of  county  clubs,  the  group  in  each 
county  being  a  unit  complete  in  itself  and  independent  of 
that  in  any  other  county.  The  use  of  practically  the  same 
written  constitution  for  all  made  these  various  county 
Democratic  clubs  alike  in  essential  characteristics.^ 

According  to  one  of  these  "  constitutions  " — the  parent 
document,  evidently — a  committee  of  "  Observation  and 
Safety  "  was  directed  to  divide  the  white  voters  and  dis- 
franchised citizens  of  the  county  into  sections  of  fifties, 
which  were  to  be  numbered  and  a  chief  appointed  for  each 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v..  13,  p.  153. 

*  Floridian,  Sept.   15,  29,   1868.    H.  Rpts.,  42nd   C,  2nd   S.,  no.  22, 
V.  13,  pp.  156,  159,  160,  227,  228,  235,  236,  294,  295,  298. 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  159-60. 


562  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

fifty.  The  chief  of  each  fifty  divided  it  into  tens  and  ap- 
pointed a  chief  of  each  ten.  The  chief  of  the  tens  was  ex- 
pected to  find  out  the  name,  place  of  residence,  vocation, 
height,  complexion,  history,  place  of  registration  and  politi- 
cal bias  of  every  white  and  colored  voter  in  his  territory. 
This  information  was  reported  to  the  president  of  the  club 
through  the  chiefs  of  fifties.  Each  member  of  the  club 
must  swear  to  "  always  conceal  any  proceedings  of  this 
club  improper  to  be  made  public  "  and  to  "  never  divulge 
the  words  or  signs  of  recognition  or  distress  "  and  "  to 
instantly  respond  in  person  and  render  all  assistance  to  the 
member  speaking  the  word  or  giving  the  sign  ". 

The  duty  of  leaders  was  "  to  mingle  with  the  colored 
voters  of  their  respective  territorial  limits  sufficiently  to 
learn  their  faces,  and  at  the  same  time  to  educate  them  in 
the  principles  of  the  Democratic  party  ".  Democratic  clubs 
were  part  of  the  response  from  Southern  whites  to  prior 
secret  organization  among  negroes  and  their  confederates 
in  Union  Leagues  and  Lincoln  Brotherhoods — those  so- 
cieties which  under  the  tutelage  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau 
and  the  Federal  military  taught  the  principles  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  ^ 

Concerning  the  origin  of  the  clubs,  Judge  Douglas  stated 
that  the 

first  object  was  to  have  some  one  that  we  [Democrats]  could 
rely  upon  to  watch  and  see  that  frauds  were  no  longer  com- 
mitted upon  the  ballot-box.  .  .  .  Afterwards  there  was  great 
discontent  among  the  colored  people.  .  .  .  They  were  very  un- 
quiet and  used  to  go  to  Tallahassee  in  crowds  of  1,000  at  a 
time,  armed  with  guns  and  clubs  and  other  weapons,  and 

1  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  157-8.  Text  of  con- 
stitution of  Leon  County  organization  presented  by  Mr.  Meyers,  a 
prominent  Conservative. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  LAWLESSNESS 


563 


parade  the  streets.  I  never  believed  there  was  any  real  danger, 
but  the  female  portion  of  our  community  were  very  much 
afraid  and  a  great  many  of  our  people  believed  that  there 
would  be  a  collision  between  the  two  races.  The  club  was  con- 
tinued, and  one  of  the  objects  was,  if  a  collision  did  take  place, 
they  might  be  able,  through  the  organization,  to  arrest  it ;  .  .  . 
or  if  that  could  not  be  done,  it  was  our  duty,  as  we  supposed, 
to  be  in  a  condition  to  defend  our  homes  and  firesides  against 
any  assault.^ 

"  I  know  of  nothing  like  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  in  this  part 
of  Florida  "  (west),  stated  a  gentleman  of  Pensacola  who 
took  an  active  part  as  a  Democrat  in  local  Reconstruction 
politics. 

A  number  of  us  men  here  in  Pensacola,  feeling  that  we  were 
living  over  a  volcano  that  was  likely  to  explode  at  any  time, 
formed  an  organization  for  protection  in  case  anything  hap- 
pened. We  formed  it  in  this  way.  A  few  of  us  had  a  talk, 
and  passed  word  around  to  those  who  we  thought  would  ap- 
prove the  idea  to  meet  on  a  certain  night  quietly — the  object 
being  in  no  way  to  attract  attention.  Some  twenty-five  or 
thirty  of  us  met,  and  one,  acting  as  the  spokesman,  outlined 
the  purpose  of  our  coming  together.  He  said  that  it  was  to 
form  some  sort  of  organization  in  case  of  trouble  with  the 
negroes.  We  elected  officers  and  took  an  inventory  of  the 
firearms  of  the  members.  Fortunately,  there  was  never  any 
use  for  this  organization.* 

All  evidence  seems  to  indicate  that  Democratic  clubs, 
"  Ku  Klux  "  bands,  or  local  regulators  sprang  into  exist- 
ence almost  simultaneously  as  means  of  defense  or  protec- 
tion.    Local  initiative  produced  local  regulators.     If  the 

1  H.  Rpts..  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  294;  see  also  testimony  of 
Mr.  J.  J.  Williams,  p.  227. 

2  Interview  of  author  with  Mr.  W.  E.  Anderson  of  Pensacola,  Flor- 
ida, July  29,  1907.  Mr.  Anderson  was  mayor  of  Pensacola  at  the  be- 
ginning of  Radical  Reconstruction. 


564  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

agents  of  the  "  Invisible  Empire  "  ever  visited  Florida  it 
was  probably  after  Conservative  whites  had  formed  local 
bands  to  coerce  Radicals  and  protect  white  families. 

Did  Democratic  clubs  perpetrate  whippings  and  assassi- 
nations? It  would  be  very  difficult  to-day  to  prove  that 
they  did.  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  however,  that  within  each 
club  was  a  "  secret  service  committee  ",^  which  was  charged 
by  its  enemies  with  performing  the  special  and  violent  func- 
tion of  "  regulating  ".  We  know  that  in  a  half-dozen  coun- 
ties of  Florida  the  operations  of  Conservative  "  regula- 
tors "  were  at  times  persistent  and  terrifying.  The  scant 
surviving  record  of  violent  Reconstruction  lawlessness  is 
indicative  of  a  bloody  regime. 

During  the  years  1866  and  1867  the  number  of  threats, 
midnight  whippings,  and  murders  in  various  parts  of  Flor- 
ida constituted  an  inevitable  part  of  the  aftermath  of  civil 
conflict  and  political  revolution.  The  year  1868  witnessed 
the  beginning  of  that  systematic  and  organized  lawlessness 
which  characterizes  the  Reconstruction  period.  So  serious 
did  social  disorders  appear  that  soon  after  the  inaugura- 
tion of  the  Republican  government,  Republicans  themselves 
declared  that  the  new  local  civil  authorities  could  not  main- 
tain themselves  without  Federal  aid.  The  Radicals  realized 
that  much  of  their  prestige  and  strength  lay  in  Federal  bay- 
onets. If  the  change  from  military  to  civil  rule  meant  the 
retirement  of  the  military  from  the  task  of  actual  govern- 
ment, it  meant  the  decline  of  Republican  strength. 

In  July,  1868,  the  legislature,  by  joint  resolution,  peti- 
tioned the  President  to  "  order  the  commanding  officers  of 
the  United  States  to  render  such  aid  and  assistance  to  pre- 
serve order  and  maintain  law,  as  the  governor  of  the  state 

*  Constitution,  Sec.  7;  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S..  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  157. 
See  also  pp.  160-161. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  LAWLESSNESS  565 

may  from  time  to  time  require  "/  Radical  Governor  Reed, 
in  transmitting  this  resolution  to  President  Johnson,  stated 
that  "  it  is  deemed  expedient  and  essential  to  peace  and  se- 
curity, that  the  present  military  force  be  retained  for  the 
present  and  subject  to  the  call  of  the  Executive  ".  Reed 
would  use  the  military  only  "  in  cases  where  civil  power 
was  resisted  and  found  inadequate  to  execute  the  laws  ".^ 

Johnson  referred  the  matter  to  Secretary  of  War  Scho- 
field,  who  responded  the  next  day  that  the  troops  "  in  Flor- 
ida and  those  in  neighboring  states  are  thought  adequate  to 
suppress  any  insurrection  ".^  The  Federal  military  was 
held  in  readiness  to  combat  that  lawlessness  which  the  Re-, 
publican  legislature  would  exaggerate  into  the  character  of 
"  insurrection  ". 

By  the  autumn  of  1868,  the  sentiment  in  Jackson  County 
was  fit  for  the  development  of  bloody  tragedy.  The  course 
followed  by  officials  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  and  the  Fed- 
eral military  in  garrison  there,  had  produced  profound  dis- 
satisfaction among  the  whites.  The  relations  of  white  em- 
ployers and  negro  laborers  had  been  rudely  interfered  with 
by  Federal  officials ;  *  white  men  had  been  incarcerated  by 
Federal  troops  because  they  protested  against  these  acts ;  ^ 
and  in  the  elections,  the  blacks,  under  the  leadership  mainly 
of  white  men  lately  from  the  North,  had  insolently  launched 
themselves  politically  against  their  former  masters.     They 

'  Johnson  Papers, — Joint  Resolution,  July  9,   1868. 

*  Ibid.,  Reed  to  Johnson,  July  13,  1868. 

'  Ibid.,  Schofield  to  Johnson,  July  22,,  1868. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  281-2.  Floridian,  April 
27,  1869.  An  open  letter  in  the  Floridian  states  that  Purman,  Radical 
politician,  had  made  enemies  among  both  Southerners  and  North- 
erners. He  was  charged  with  "  collecting  dues  to  discharged  U.  S. 
soldiers,  who  believed  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  defrauding  them 
out  of  large  amounts."   This  charge  was  unsubstantiated  with  evidence. 

'  Wallace,  Carpetbag  Rule,  p.  108;  Marianna  Courier,  Aug.  18,  1870. 


566  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

— the  blacks — had  been  victorious  at  the  polls.  What  was 
true  of  the  relations  of  black  and  white  in  Jackson  County, 
was  true  in  many  other  localities  in  Florida. 

One  afternoon  in  the  early  autumn  of  this  year,  a  white 
farmer  of  Jackson  County,  McGriff — a  Conservative — was 
standing  on  his  back  gallery.  It  was  near  nightfall.  The 
sun  had  sunk  almost  below  the  horizon.  The  tall  trees 
which  surrounded  his  house  had  cast  deep  shadows  indefi- 
nitely eastward.  Someone  in  the  shadows  beyond  the  fence 
fired  on  McGriff  and  badly  wounded  him.  He  had  been 
recently  in  a  dispute  with  a  negro  laborer,  who  had  taken 
the  case  to  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  agent  without  reaching 
a  settlement  of  the  difficulty.  Induced  perhaps  by  fear, 
McGriff,  as  soon  as  his  condition  allowed,  left  the  county. 
He  sent  back  a  young  man,  McDaniel,  to  take  charge  of  his 
place.  McDaniel,  late  at  night,  heard  someone  calling  him. 
He  evidently  groped  his  way  to  the  door  and  was  there 
murdered.^  These  outrages  were  credited  to  negroes. 
They  are  mentioned  because  they  mark  the  beginning  of  a 
period  of  assassination  and  unprecedented  terror  for  the 
usually  peaceful  community  of  Marianna  and  environs. 

The  operation  of  white  regulators  in  Jackson  County  and 
elsewhere  in  West  and  Central  Florida,  now  began  to  as- 
sume a  more  severe  character.  Parties  of  young  white  men 
— some  of  them  of  the  local  aristocracy — constituted  these 
illegal  and  marauding  rural  police.  Any  form  of  organiza- 
tion in  such  bands  was  very  rudimentary,  except  perhaps 
when  the  regulators  were  a  committee  of  a  Democratic 
club.^  "  Before  the  War,  years  ago,  we  had  a  very  similar 
process,"  said  one  Southern  planter  of  Leon  County.  "  We 
had   down   in   this   country   what   we   called   Regulators. 

'  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  109. 

'  I  conclude  this  after  discussing  the  matter  with  one  of  the  most 
active  regulators  of  Jackson  County. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  LAWLESSNESS  567 

Whenever  they  notified  a  man  to  leave,  he  left.  If  it  had 
not  been  for  this  organization  with  men  at  the  head  of  it 
we  could  not  have  been  protected  ".^ 

With  guns  across  their  saddle  bows  and  halters  around 
their  pummels,  Reconstruction  regulators,  sometimes  grotes- 
quely masked,  followed  the  lonely  country  roads  and  plan- 
tation by-paths  during  the  night,  watching  the  movements 
of  negroes,  apprehending  thieves,  administering  warnings 
and  whippings,  and  sometimes  taking  criminal  negroes  off 
into  the  woods  for  the  ghastly  purpose  of  making-way  with 
them.^  Their  operations  affected  not  only  negroes  but 
white  Republicans  as  well.  The  state  government  some- 
times directly  encountered  their  opposition.  The  destruc- 
tion on  the  night  of  November  6th,  1868,  of  2,000  rifles 
purchased  by  Governor  Reed  for  the  militia  was  in  all  prob- 
ability the  work  of  regulators.  The  arms  were  thrown 
from  railway  cars  and  broken  up  at  night  between  Lake 
City  and  Madison  while  en  route  to  Tallahassee.^  They 
were  destined  for  negro  militia. 

The  regulators  of  Jackson  County  were  comparatively 
few  in  number  but  particularly  active.  They  deliberately 
determined  to  get  rid  of  the  local  political  leaders  of  the 
negroes.  These  leaders  were  Radicals — white  men — lately 
from  the  North.  The  most  prominent  was  W.  J.  Purman, 
of  Marianna,  state  senator  and  one-time  agent  of  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau.*  The  assassination  of  Purman  was  planned 
deliberately  and  carefully  even  down  to  minor  details. 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  230. 

^  From  the  Ku  Klux  testimony  and  conversation  with  those  who 
took  part  in  regulating. 

^  Floridian,  Nov.  10,  1868.  N.  Y.  Times,  Nov.  7,  1868;  Jan.  i,  1869. 
H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  122,  124,  167. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  149.  Purman  had  come  into  Florida  in  1866.  For  two 
years  he  was  Freedmen's  Bureau  agent,  then  a  member  of  the  con- 
stitutional convention,  and  next  state  senator. 


568  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

On  Friday  evening,  February  27th,  1869,  Purman  was 
on  his  way  home  from  a  concert.  With  him  was  Dr.  Fin- 
layson,  the  scalawag  county  clerk.  Sometime  before  mid- 
night the  two  men,  engaged  in  conversation,  were  crossing 
the  town  square.  A  shot  was  fired  by  a  man  hiddejm  in  the 
darkness  behind  a  log.  He  had  been  placed  there  and  had 
been  waiting  for  some  time.  Finlayson  was  instantly  killed 
by  the  shot.  Purman  was  dangerously  wounded.  The  ball 
that  pierced  Finlayson's  brain  went  through  Purman's  neck. 
The  wrong  man  had  fallen  a  victim.^  Covered  with  blood 
from  apparently  a  death-wound  Purman  was  carried  to  his 
home.  The  little  town  was  soon  in  a  tremor.  Scores  of 
negroes  collected  about  the  homes  of  Purman  and  the  mur- 
dered Finlayson.  "  The  next  night  about  ten  o'clock,"  tes- 
tified Purman  three  years  later, 

when  I  was  lying  at  the  point  of  death,  a  committee  of  a  dozen, 
or  perhaps  more,  black  men  came  into  my  house.  They  were 
armed  to  the  teeth,  and  said  that  there  were  six  or  eight  hun- 
dred armed  men  around  the  town,  and  that  they  were  going 
to  come  in  and  sack  the  town  that  night  on  account  of  the  mur- 
der of  their  friends.  ...  I  begged  of  those  men,  for  God's 
sake,  not  to  do  any  such  thing,  .  .  .  and  made  them  hold  up 
their  right  hands  and  swear  to  me  to  go  and  call  off  their 
friends  and  return  home.  Had  I  not  done  it  there  would  have 
been  a  terrible  calamity  right  at  that  time.^ 

The  night  passed  quietly.  But  no  one  was  punished  for 
the  killing  of  Dr.  Finlayson,  and  the  midnight  excursions 
of  regulators  continued.^     Within  a  week  a  white  farmer 

^  Floridian,  March  2,  9,  April  27,  1869.  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S., 
no.  22,  V.  13,  pp.  78,  94,  III,  144,  147,  188,  217,  303.  There  is  some 
confusion  as  to  the  date  of  the  incident.  One  report  gives  it  Feb.  26, 
another  Feb.  27. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  155. 

'  Floridian,  March  9,  1869.  The  governor  by  proclamation  offered 
a  reward  of  $2,000.00  for  the  apprehension  and  conviction  of  the 
slayer  of  Finlayson. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  LAWLESSNESS  569 

near  Marianna  was  murdered  in  his  home  by  blacks/  Times 
were  certainly  not  normal  for  this  community.  The  bloated 
bodies  of  negroes  were  found  floating  on  the  placid  Chipola." 
Wild  stories  took  strange,  weird  shape,  distorted  and  en- 
larged by  African  imaginations  and  that  painful  uneasi- 
ness which  must  have  filled  the  minds  of  the  few  white 
Republicans  in  the  county.  "  Sat  up  late ;  saw  somebody 
at  my  windows  about  12  M  ",  recorded  one  man  after- 
wards brutally  assassinated  at  night.^  The  Conservative 
white  knew  not  what  would  be  the  next  retaliatory  move 
by  his  black  neighbors,  maybe  his  one-time  slaves. 

Other  localities  in  the  state  began  to  experience  like  vio- 
lent results  of  the  political  and  racial  conflict.  During  the 
autumn  of  1868  negroes  were  killed  in  Alachua,  Madison, 
and  Columbia  Counties.  Scant  record  is  left  of  circum- 
stances or  of  even  the  names  of  the  dead.  They  were  cred- 
ited with  being  Radicals.  In  reviewing  to-day  the  case  of 
Reconstruction  violence  it  is  possible  only  to  point  out 
special  cases  as  specimens.  Thomas  Jacobs,  negro  of  Co- 
lumbia County,  for  instance,  was  called  to  his  door  at  night 
and  shot  dead.*  A  few  weeks  later  a  crowd  of  blacks,  as- 
sembled at  night  for  a  "  social  party  ",  at  the  house  of  a 
locally-prominent  negro  politician,  was  fired  on  by  a  band 
of  disguised  men.  A  child  was  killed  and  three  other 
negroes  wounded. °  Weaver,  the  negro  host  on  this  occa- 
sion, had  been  "  holding  political  meetings  "  in  this  house 
and  had  been  told  by  whites  to  discontinue  the  practice. 

*  Floridian,  March  9,  April  27,  1869. 

*  The  Chipola  is  a  beautiful  stream  flowing  through  Jackson  County. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  81,  Diary  of  Dickinson. 
For  general  conditions,  see  also  Floridian,  April  27,  1869,  letter  from 
Jackson  County. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  263. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  263. 


570 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


He  persisted  in  his  course  and  this  tragedy  resulted.  In 
Alachua  County,  during  the  autumn  and  winter  of  1868, 
several  spectacular  or  notorious  assassinations  and  lynchings 
occurred.  Samuel  Sullivan  was  killed  by  a  mob  at  New- 
mansville;  Moses  Smith,  at  Gordon;  and  Henry  Franklin, 
at  Gainesville.  All  were  negroes.^  In  the  autumn  of  the 
following  year,  1869,  over  the  state  generally  affairs  grew 
sensibly  worse.  The  gravest  trouble  was  again  in  Jackson 
County. 

An  incident  occurred  in  Marianna  (Jackson  County)  in 
May,  1869,  which  because  of  its  peculiar  and  somewhat 
spectacular  character,  probably  did  much  to  heighten  the 
animosity  of  the  whites  toward  the  negroes  and  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau.  It  seems  that  some  negroes  reported  to 
Bureau  headquarters  that  two  young  white  women — girls 
of  refinement  and  elevated  social  position — had  taken  flow- 
ers from  the  graves  of  Union  soldiers  buried  in  the  town. 
The  flowers  had  been  placed  on  the  graves  by  negroes  dur- 
ing their  May-Day  festival.  Captain  Hamilton,  local 
Bureau  agent  in  Marianna,  peremptorily  summoned  these 
young  women  to  appear  before  him  and  publicly  answer  to 
the  strange  charge  of  "  desecrating  the  graves  "  of  Union 
soldiers.  The  girls  came  into  the  Bureau  court.  They  were 
accompanied  by  relatives  and  friends.  The  captain  ordered 
them  to  lift  the  veils  which  they  wore.  They  did  so,  and 
he  then,  in  the  presence  of  grinning  negroes,  administered 
what  he  termed  "  a  lecture  "  on  what  their  conduct  must  be 
in  the  future  if  they  would  avoid  arrest.^  Such  a  proceed- 
ing as  this,  coupled  with  the  increasing  activity  of  Demo- 
cratic regulators,  boded  ill  for  peace. 

The  constable  in  Marianna  at  this  time  was  a  negro, 

1  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  268. 
^Ibid.,  pp.  232,  282,  285. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  LAWLESSNESS 


571 


Calvin  Rogers  ^ — aggressive,  sharp  and  influential  in  local 
politics  among  his  people.  His  electors  and  his  deputies 
were  black.  He  was  feared  and  hated  by  many  a  Southern 
white.  The  assassination  of  Rogers  was  planned  by  the 
same  men  who  attempted  the  life  of  Purman.  Such  killing 
then  had  to  be  managed  with  considerable  circumspection 
because  the  Bureau  agent  could  and  would  call  in  Federal 
troops  to  apprehend  any  who  seriously  imposed  upon  the 
freedmen.  The  courts  were  mostly  Radical  and  the  juries 
could  be  made  black  if  necessary. 

On  Tuesday,  September  28th  (1869),  a  number  of  ne- 
groes were  on  their  way  to  a  picnic  at  Robinson's  Spring, 
near  Marianna.  Calvin  Rogers  was  of  the  party.  He  was 
seated  in  an  ox-cart.  As  the  picnickers  approached  a 
thicket,  they  were  fired  upon  from  ambush.  A  negro  man 
and  a  little  boy  were  killed  outright.  Rogers  escaped.' 
Within  two  hours  a  posse  of  thirty  armed  blacks,  with  a 
white  Republican  justice  of  the  peace  at  its  head,  was  scour- 
ing the  country  for  the  assassins.^ 

The  following  day,  about  dark,  two  negroes  were  fired 
on  and  badly  wounded  near  Marianna.*  Two  days  later, 
October  ist,  shortly  after  nightfall  a  more  serious  trouble 
befell  the  town. 

A  few  minutes  before  nine  o'clock  two  gentlemen  and  a 
lady  were  seated  on  the  front  piazza  of  the  town  hotel  en- 

1  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  148,  192.  The  only  elec- 
tive local  office  was  "  constable  " — one  for  every  200  registered  voters 
in  a  county — each  county  to  have  at  least  two  and  not  more  than  12. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22.  v.  13,  pp.  78,  145,  289  (Letter 
of  J.  Q.  Dickinson  written  two  days  later), — "Thirteen  or  fourteen 
shots  in  rapid  succession.  Rogers  had  but  one  load  which  he  fired." 
Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  no. 

■  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  290. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  78. 


572  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

gaged  in  conversation.  One  was  Colonel  James  McClellan, 
a  veteran  of  the  Confederate  Army,  a  cultured  man,  a  good 
lawyer,  and  a  Conservative  politician  of  some  influence. 
The  worst  his  enemies  could  say  of  him  was  that  he  had 
"  rugged,  harsh  ways  "  and  "  was  a  large  man,  a  man  of 
huge  proportions,  and  called  himself  a  *  Kentucky  war- 
horse  '  "/  The  other  man  was  Colonel  J.  P.  Coker,  a  local 
planter-merchant,  younger  and  more  aggressive  than  the 
other  and  termed  by  Radicals  "  the  generalissimo  of  the  Ku 
Klux  ".  The  lady  with  them  was  Miss  Maggie  McClellan, 
a  most  amiable  and  lovable  young  woman,  the  daughter  of 
Colonel  McClellan.  Coker  was  deeply  hated  by  the  Repub- 
lican politicians  of  West  Florida.  His  assassination  was 
commonly  believed  afterwards  to  have  been  planned  by 
Radical  whites  and  negroes,  probably  in  retaliation  for  the 
killing  of  Finlayson  and  the  wounding  of  Purman.  Calvin 
Rogers,  negro  constable  at  Marianna,  was  reputed  to  have 
been  a  leader  in  the  plot  to  get  rid  of  Coker. 

On  this  particular  evening  a  kerosene  lamp  in  a  window 
threw  a  broad  beam  of  light  across  the  darkened  street  in 
front  of  the  hotel.  A  band  of  negroes  sauntered  down  the 
street  and  across  the  beam  of  light.  The  night  was  calm, 
for  the  strumming  of  a  banjo  came  up  faintly  from  the  dis- 
tant negro  quarters.  Colomel  McClellan  and  his  daughter, 
seated  now  alone  in  the  peaceful,  cool  darkness  of  the 
piazza  might  have  noticed  the  passing  negroes,  for  others 
across  the  street  did.  The  negro  constable  Rogers  was  seen 
in  this  group  of  blacks  that  passed  on  into  the  shadows. 
Coker  had  left  the  McClellans  a  few  minutes  before.  The 
Colonel  turned  to  say  something  to  his  daughter.  A  click 
of  gunlocks  and  a  whisper  came  from  out  the  darkness 
down   the   street.      Instantly   a  volley   followed,   directed 

1  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  150. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  LAWLESSNESS  573 

toward  the  piazza.  McClellan,  struck  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  body  and  bleeding  profusely  started  up  and  then  gripped 
the  banisters  to  keep  his  feet.    Miss  McClellan  was  killed.^ 

As  the  reports  of  the  guns  echoed  through  the  town, 
men  jumped  for  their  arms.  Lights  were  put  out  and 
blinds  were  closed.  Men  and  women  stood,  with  strain- 
ing ears,  listening  for  the  dreadful  sounds  which  their 
wrought-up  imaginations  suggested.  The  assassins  of  Miss 
McClellan  ran  down  the  street  and  then  into  a  lane,  and 
were  soon  safe  in  the  negro  quarters  or  the  open  country. 
This  was  indeed  retaliation  by  black  Radicals.  The  racial 
and  political  conflict  in  Florida  had  claimed  as  its  victims 
several  persons  only  remotely  responsible  for  trouble,  and 
now  "  an  innocent,  inoffensive,  and  passingly  lovely  lady,"  - 
had  been  stricken  down  by  a  volley  from  the  darkness. 
Was  this  to  be  the  first  move  in  assaulting  the  homes  of  the 
whites?  Race  war  had  been  talked  about  enough  since 
1866,  to  make  some  people  believe  that  it  might  occur.  In 
the  plantation  counties  the  blacks  far  outnumbered  the 
whites — and  the  blacks  were  armed  and  organized.  The 
white  men  of  Jackson  County  then  had  reason  to  believe 
that  murder,  rape  and  rapine  would  engulf  the  whites  if  the 
semi-barbarous  race  obtained  the  upper  hand  in  actual 
physical  conflict. 

"  That  night,"  said  Joseph  Barnes,  a  young  Conservative 
regulator,  "  I  rode  almost  to  the  Choctawhatchee  "  (more 
than  forty  miles  away).  In  other  directions  mounted  white 
men  went  out  through  the  night  to  arouse  and  warn  white 
families.  Before  daylight  the  country  people  began  to  ar- 
rive in  Marianna.  Most  of  the  men  were  on  horseback  with 
guns  across  their  saddle  bows.    Their  women  and  children 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  78,  150,  188,  207,  290,  309. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  283 — from  Marianna  Courier. 


574  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

came  with  them.  Just  a  generation  before,  the  fathers  and 
grandfathers  of  some  of  these  people  had  gathered  together 
thus  to  protect  themselves  and  their  families  against  the 
Seminole  Indians.  "  People  kept  gathering  in  from  all 
parts  of  the  country,  armed  mostly  with  double-barreled 
shotguns,  and  most  of  them  mounted,"  wrote  a  white  Re- 
publican in  Marianna.^  No  inquest  was  allowed  over  the 
body  of  Miss  McClellan.^  The  younger  and  more  violent 
white  men  were  bent  on  immediate  revenge  for  this  "  damn- 
able atrocity  ",*  which,  following  the  cruel,  cold  logic  of 
events,  their  own  violence  had  played  no  small  part  in  pro- 
ducing. 

J.  Q.  Dickinson,  the  white  Republican  justice  of  the 
peace  in  Marianna,  sat  gazing  next  morning  out  of  his  win- 
dow at  the  people  moving  up  and  down  the  main  street  of 
the  town.  He  had  reason  to  be  uneasy.  He  was  witnessing 
the  rapid  local  disintegration  of  constituted  authority. 
This  was  a  frequent  and  sinister  phenomenon  of  the  Re- 
construction period.  Rumor  had  fixed  the  guilt  for  the 
previous  night's  murder,  and  Dickinson  had  offered  to 
issue  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  the  suspects,  but  no  one 
seemed  to  want  a  warrant.  The  man  to  serve  it  was  the 
negro  constable,  and  he  was  suspected  of  the  crime.  The 
justice  noticed  the  crowd  move  hurriedly  toward  the  town 
square,  and,  leaving  his  office,  he  passed  into  the  street 
among  the  excited  people.  He  claimed  that  he  heard  Col- 
onel Coker  call  out:  "  Come  on,  I'd  soon  lose  my  life  now 
as  any  time  ".  Some  one  else  yelled  out :  "  Come  on,  boys." 
"They  are  trying  to  kill  Calvin"  (the  negro  constable), 
Dickinson  was  told  by  several  people  as  he  made  his  way  into 
the  crowd.*    Stepping  up  to  a  group  in  which  was  Colonel 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  290.      *  Ibid.,  p.  79. 

'  Marianna  Courier. 

*H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  yg.    The  negro,  Calvin 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  LAWLESSNESS  575 

Coker,  the  justice  of  the  peace  said :  "  What  is  the  row  ? 
I  hope  you  will  not  be  too  hasty  but  will  get  out  a  war- 
rant." Coker  turned  on  him.  "  What  right  have  you,  sir, 
to  say  that?  "  he  demanded  of  Dickinson.  "  We  don't  care 
a  damn  for  what  you  think  or  what  you  say."  Such  a 
statement  embodies  in  brief  compass  the  ugly  spirit  roused 
by  negro  rule — and  such  a  spirit  worked  for  confusion  and 
injustice.  A  crowd  of  white  men  with  guns  over  their 
arms  gathered  about  the  Republican  justice  of  the  peace.^ 
He  had  lost  the  authority  which  the  law  might  confer.  "  I 
found  everything  in  wild  excitement.  The  young  men  were 
drunk  and  desperate,"  Dickinson  jotted  down  in  memor- 
anda which  survived  his  tragic  death,  "  and  the  elder  and 
better  men  were  afraid  and  kept  mostly  out  of  sight ". 

During  the  morning  Oscar  Granbury  and  Matt  Nickels, 
negroes,  suspected  of  being  implicated  in  the  murder  of 
Miss  McClellan,  were  taken  a  short  distance  out  of  town 
by  a  group  of  armed  whites.  Granbury  was  killed.  Nickels 
escaped  to  the  woods.^  "  There  was  much  danger  of  a  riot 
before  noon,"  recorded  Dickinson. 

For  the  next  week  the  tension  in  and  about  Marianna 
continued  amid  murders  and  attempts  at  murder.  The  offi- 
cers of  the  law  were  helpless.  No  law  was  operative  be- 
yond that  of  the  mob.  The  sheriff  of  the  county  was  a 
fugitive  from  justice,  accused  of  murder  and  reported  to 
be  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  desperate  negroes.  The  elder 
men  among  the  whites,  seeking  peace,  were  exerting  them- 

Rogers,  was  at  the  time  only  suspected  of  being  implicated  in  the 
McClellan  murder.  He  appeared  in  Marianna  the  morning  after  the 
killing  and  was  directed  by  Dickinson,  justice  of  the  peace,  to  serve 
an  inquest  over  the  body  of  Miss  McClellan.  He  soon  after  this 
left  Marianna. 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  79.     Diary  of  Dickinson. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  79. 


576  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

selves  to  control  the  younger  men.  On  Monday,  October 
3rd,  they  attempted  to  bring  about  a  friendly  conference 
between  blacks  and  whites,  but  their  efforts  proved  futile, 
because  no  one  came  to  their  conference/  On  this  same 
day  Samuel  Fleishman,  a  Jewish  merchant,  was  called  be- 
fore a  committee  of  citizens  and  told  that  he  must  leave  the 
country  because  he  had  expressed  opinions  derogatory  to 
"  white  supremacy ".  Fleishman  had  been  for  twenty 
years  a  citizen  of  Jackson  County.  "  They  gave  me  two 
hours  to  arrange  my  affairs  and  get  out  of  the  town,"  he 
said.  "  I  told  them  that  if  I  had  committed  a  crime  I  was 
willing  to  be  tried  and  punished  for  it,  .  .  .  but  that  I 
would  rather  die  than  leave.  They  informed  me  that  they 
would  take  me  off  at  sundown,  willing  or  unwilling."  ^ 

At  sundown  he  was  taken  by  a  band  of  armed  white  men, 
carried  out  of  the  county,  and  told  that  if  he  should  ever 
return  he  would  be  killed.^  A  week  later  the  body  of 
Fleishman  was  found  in  the  public  road  twenty  miles  from 
Marianna.  The  corpse  was  stiff  and  cold  and  bloody  from 
a  gunshot  wound.  The  man  had  met  his  death  while  re- 
turning home  on  foot.  He  had  disregarded  the  warning  of 
those  who  had  expelled  him.  He  told  Malachi  Martin, 
the  prison  warden  at  Chattahoochee  who  tried  to  turn  him 
back  from  his  fatal  journey,  that  "  all  he  had  in  the  world 
was  in  Marianna,  ...  his  family  and  all  his  interests."  * 

In  Marianna,  meanwhile,  the  whites  were  dealing  dras- 
tically with  suspected  negroes.  On  Thursday,  October 
4th,  the  white  men  met  in  mass-meeting.  The  older  and 
more  conservative  men  pleaded  for  peace.     Their  advice 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  80. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  82,  affidavit  of  Fleishman,  Oct.  5,  1869. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  291. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  78,  81,  145,  189,  217. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  LAWLESSNESS  577 

was  flung  back  in  their  faces  by  the  younger  men.  After 
the  meeting,  Matt  Nickels,  his  wife  and  son — suspected  of 
being  impHcated  in  the  McClellan  murder — were  all  three 
taken  a  short  distance  out  of  town,  shot  to  death,  and  their 
bodies  thrown  into  an  old  lime-sink/  At  night  came  on 
word  spread  about  that  Calvin  Rogers  at  the  head  of  a  band 
of  armed  negroes  had  been  seen  in  the  neighborhood. 
"  The  town  was  alarmed  and  slept  on  its  arms."  ^ 

Governor  Reed  in  Tallahassee  followed  the  unfortunate 
course  of  events  in  Jackson  County.  He  soon  found  himself 
in  a  difficult  position.  Conditions  warranted  the  proclama- 
tion of  martial  law.  White  Radicals  and  black  Radicals 
urged  high-handed  executive  interposition  with  the  aid  of 
Federal  bayonets,  if  necessary,  but  Reed  hesitated  to  take 
this  serious  step.  His  "  administration,  now  reeling  and 
tottering  from  center  to  circumference,"  stated  Wallace, 
"  was  called  upon  by  Purman  and  others,  ...  to  declare 
martial  law  in  Jackson  County.  The  Governor  informed 
them  that  if  this  were  done  it  would  be  the  end  of  Repub- 
lican government  in  Florida,  and  refused  peremptorily; 
first,  because  there  were  no  circumstances  that  would  jus- 
tify it;  and  second,  there  were  no  means  provided  by  which 
to  pay  expenses."  ^  Through  the  efforts  of  W.  J.  Purman 
the  state  Republican  executive  committee  demanded  that 
Reed  declare  martial  law  and  send  militia  into  Jackson 
County.  To  have  sent  negro  militia  would  have  meant  in 
all  probability  savage  and  desperate  race  war.  The  gov- 
ernor, hating  Purman,  proposed  "  that  if  Purman  would 
take  command  a  regiment  should  be  raised.  Of  course  he 
declined,"  says  Wallace,  "  as  the  governor  knew  he  would." 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  80,  no,  140,  145,  291. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  81. 

•  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  iii. 


578  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

There  was  no  white  militia  to  send  into  Jackson  County, 
and  Reed  knew  it.    The  situation  was  a  delicate  one. 

With  remarkable  poise  the  governor  held  to  his  decision 
that  civil  government,  unaided  by  the  military,  could  and 
must  right  affairs.  He  consistently  declined  to  attempt  any 
measures  that  would  be  considered  by  the  native  whites  ar- 
bitrary and  coercive.  He  was  not  in  sympathy  with  the 
white  Republican  politicians  of  Jackson  County,  and  at  a 
later  day  expressed  the  opinion  that  they  were  responsible 
for  the  trouble  there.^ 

After  a  week  of  semi-anarchy  in  Jackson  County  two 
leading  Conservative  whites  joined  J.  Q.  Dickinson,  the 
Republican  justice  of  the  peace,  in  a  letter  to  the  governor 
stating  that  the  local  government  could  maintain  itself. 
The  governor  appointed  a  new  sheriff  of  Jackson  County — 
a  Conservative  white,  Thomas  W.  West — and  sent  to  Mari- 
anna  two  gentlemen.  Southerners,  to  represent  him  in  con- 
ciliating and  making  peace.^  At  the  same  time  the  Federal 
war  department,  responsive  to  the  call  of  local  Republican 
officials  in  Florida,  sent  small  detachments  of  troops  to 
Marianna  and  Tallahassee,  ostensibly  to  protect  United 
States  officials  in  the  performance  of  their  duties.^  This 
temperate  policy  proved  to  be  a  wise  one  for  both  governor 
and  Federal  war  department.  The  Federal  soldiers  and 
the  new  sheriff  were  hooted  at  first,  but  in  time  the  tension 
subsided.  "  The  detachments  [of  Federal  troops]  sent 
were  generally  quite  small,"  stated  Secretary  Schofield, 
"  but  almost  without  exception,  their  presence  has  been  pro- 
ductive of  good  results  in  preserving  the  public  peace,  and 
enabling  the  civil  authorities  to  enforce  the  laws."  *     How- 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  205,  215. 
''Ibid.,  p.  81;  Wallace,  op.  cit,  p.  iii. 

*  Rpt.  Sect,  of  War,  1869,  v.  i,  p.  85 ;  1870,  v.  1,  p.  39. 

*  Ibid.,  1870,  V.  I,  p.  39. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  LAWLESSNESS  579 

ever,  it  is  true  that  the  surveillance  of  night  riders  continued 
in  West  Florida  and  most  of  the  prominent  Radical  politi- 
cians left  the  country. 

During  the  year  1869  other  portions  of  Florida  experi- 
enced lawless,  violent  conflicts,  only  a  little  less  notor- 
ious than  the  reign  of  terror  in  Jackson  County.  The  en- 
counters were  usually  very  clearly  between  blacks  and 
whites — and  not  always  between  blacks  and  Southern 
whites.  For  instance,  a  squad  of  Federal  soldiers  was 
ambushed  by  negroes  near  Jacksonville  on  February  22nd, 
1869,  and  one  soldier  killed  in  the  fighting.  In  retaliation 
a  company  of  Federal  soldiers  under  an  officer  but  not 
under  orders  "  shot  up  "  the  negro  quarters  of  Jackson- 
ville, killing  one  black  boy  and  wounding  two  other  negroes 
and  a  white  man.^ 

The  history  of  Lake  City  in  Columbia  County  was  al- 
most as  troubled  as  that  of  Marianna.  Conservative 
white  regulators  or  "  Ku  Klux "  were  active.  Timothy 
Francis,  for  example,  was  threatened  by  the  local  organiza- 
tion because  he  was  too  active  in  politics.  He  left  the 
county  and  found  work  in  the  railway  pump-house  at  San- 
derson. He  was  murdered  near  his  place  of  labor  just  at 
dusk.^  Republicans  attributed  his  death  to  regulators. 
James  Green,  another  black  of  Columbia  County,  was  taken 
from  his  house  at  night,  carried  ofif  into  the  woods,  and 
there  probably  forced  under  torture  to  give  the  secrets  of 
the  local  Union  League.  His  bloated  and  scarred  body 
was  found  in  a  pond  sometime  after.' 

In  Madison  County  (Central  Florida),  a  white  Repub- 
lican, Allison,  was  called  to  his  door  at  night  and  mur- 

*  Floridian,  March  2,  9,  1869. 

2  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  263. 

3  Ibid.,  pp.  165,  263. 


580  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

dered.  In  the  same  locality  Richard  Smith,  a  mulatto,  was 
taken  at  night  from  his  bed,  murdered,  and  his  body  left  in 
a  frightful  condition — as  a  warning,  probably — near  his 
own  doorstep.  Two  white  men  killed  a  negro  in  the  county 
road,  "  dragged  his  body  off  a  piece,  and  threw  it  in  an  old 
lime-sink  "/ 

The  foregoing  are  specimens  of  assassination,  not  a  list 
of  casualties.  In  Alachua,  Lafayette,  Hamilton,  Hernando, 
Suwanee,  Calhoun,  and  Taylor  Counties  during  1868-70 
violent  crime  seems  to  have  been  very  prevalent.^  Few 
localities  escaped  without  some  violence.  If  it  was  not 
assassination  it  was  whipping,  incendiarism,  or  attempted 
assassination. 

The  whipping  was  sometimes  disgustingly  brutal.  R. 
W.  Cone,  who  experienced  this  form  of  outrage,  tells  the 
following  typical  story. 

I  went  to  bed  as  usual  that  night,  and  in  the  night  the  ham- 
mering on  the  door  woke  me  up.  I  hollered  out,  "  Who's 
that  ?"  and  raised  up  in  bed  at  the  same  time ;  as  I  raised  up 
the  door  came  open ;  these  men  came  in,  and  when  they  got 
into  the  room  they  struck  a  match,  which  showed  them  where 
the  door  of  the  bed-room  was.  .  .  .  They  took  hold  of  me  and 
pulled  me  to  the  door.  I  had  on  a  long  night-shirt,  and  when 
they  got  mo  to  the  door  they  pulled  it  over  my  head  and 
twisted  it  up  around  my  head  and  arms.  One  took  me  by  the 
shirt  and  another  by  the  legs  and  arms,  and  so  they  pulled 
me  along;  my  wife  started  to  come  after  me,  and  one  man 
turned  round  and  told  her  that  if  she  came  out  and  made  a 
disturbance  he  would  blow  her  damn  brains  out.  She  stopped 
at  that.  She  knew  the  man  who  made  the  threat.  .  .  .  They 
carried  me  out  a  piece  and  laid  me  across  a  log,  one  hold  of 
each  arm,  one  hold  of  my  head,  and  one  hold  of  my  feet; 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  116,  121,  126,  259. 
'  Ibid.,  pp.  54-57.  59-6o,  65,  74,  83,  168,  177,  179,  190,  217,  223,  etc. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  LAWLESSNESS  581 

then  another  took  what  I  supposed  to  be  a  leather  strap  and 
commenced  whipping  me.  .  .  .  From  my  thighs  to  the  back  of 
my  neck  blood  was  drawn  from  skin  all  over.^ 

"  They  whipped  me  from  the  crown  of  my  head  to  the 
soles  of  my  feet,"  said  a  woman  who  claimed  she  had  been 
punished  by  the  "  True-Klux  ".  "  I  was  just  raw.  The 
blood  oozed  out  through  my  frock,  all  around  my  waist, 
clean  through."  * 

The  actual  compass  of  this  painful  phase  of  Florida's 
Reconstruction  experience — the  killings  and  whippings 
under  cover  of  darkness — will  never  be  known.  Dead  men 
tell  no  tales  and  usually  those  who  suffered  were  not  suffi- 
ciently enlightened  to  leave  personal  record  of  their  lives. 
Those  who  did  the  killing,  or  the  whipping,  or  the  house- 
burning  sought  effectively  to  leave  no  record  of  their 
deeds.  The  counties  worst  affected  were  Jackson,  Alachua, 
Madison,  Columbia,  Hernando,  Lafayette,  Calhoun,  Su- 
wanee,  and  Hamilton.  These  counties  are  not  all  con- 
tiguous. Lawlessness  was  prevalent  in  localities  in  almost 
every  part  of  the  state.  However,  abutting  those  counties 
in  which  terror  reigned  there  were  comparatively  law-abid- 
ing and  peaceful  counties,  almost  free  from  assassinations, 
incendiarism,  and  whipping.^  The  explanation  of  this  phe- 
nomenon is  a  matter  for  sociological  investigation.  All 
counties  were  subjected  to  about  the  same  fundamental  eco- 
nomic, social,  and  political  changes  during  the  Reconstruc- 
tion period,  but  the  stress  and  strain  on  people  differed  with 
the  character  of  the  population  and  the  character  of  the 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  65. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  60,  Hannah  Tut  son. 

•  Gadsden  County,  for  instance,  next  to  Jackson  County,  was  rela- 
tively free  from  violent  lawlessness,  and  so  was  Jefferson  County, 
bordering  Madison  County.  Lawlessness  was  not  confined  to  the 
sparsely  settled  or  poor  white  counties. 


582  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

local  political  leaders.  One  aggressive  and  quarrelsome 
Radical  could  produce  a  reign  of  terror  in  any  locality 
where  the  negro  population  was  heavy. 

As  to  the  actual  number  of  homicides  in  Florida  during 
Reconstruction  and  under  Republican  rule — 1867- 1876 — 
estimates  can  at  best  be  little  more  than  guesses.  At  the 
outset  the  investigator  is  confronted  with  two  very  funda- 
mental facts:  I,  only  incomplete  and  scanty  statistics 
of  crime  in  Florida  during  this  period  survive;  2,  most 
general  evidence  and  opinions  on  the  subject  originated 
with  Radicals,  who  for  a  very  clear  reason  exaggerated 
conditions  South,  in  order  to  prove  "  conspiracy  ". 

Called  before  a  committee  of  Congress  in  1871,  Jona- 
than Gibbs,  the  negro  secretary  of  state,  said :  "  Here  is  a 
brief  abstract  I  have  made  from  letters  concerning  outrages 
and  murders  in  some  eight  counties;  and  that  is  not  all.  I 
am  certain  to  the  best  of  my  belief  that  I  understand  the 
matter.  You  will  see  at  the  head  of  this  list  that  I  set  down 
153  murders  for  Jackson  County."  The  list  was  as  fol- 
lows: Jackson  County,  153,  Madison  County  20,  Columbia 
County  16,  Taylor  County  7,  Alachua  County  16,  Suwanee 
County  10,  Hamilton  County  9,  Lafayette  County  4.^  The 
Radical  white  sheriff  of  Madison  put  the  number  in  his 
county  at  37,  not  20.^  J.  Q.  Dickinson,  Radical,  writing 
from  Marianna  early  in  1871,  estimated  that  about  75  per- 
sons had  been  murdered  in  Jackson  County  since  the  "  be- 
ginning of  Reconstruction  " ;  ^  while  a  former  Conserva- 
tive regulator  of  that  locality  in  conversation  with  me  con- 
cluded that  probably  175  murders  were  perpetrated  in 
Jackson  County  during  the  entire  Reconstruction  period. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  222. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  125. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  221. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  LAWLESSNESS  583 

The  statements  in  the  Federal  census  for  1870  indicate  a 
much  smaller  number  of  violent  deaths  than  the  foregoing 
statements  imply.  The  census  estimate  of  homicides, 
deaths  from  "  causes  unknown  ",  and  deaths  from  drown- 
ing and  gunshot  wounds  in  Florida  for  the  year  1869-70 
was  only  106.  Clearly  many  of  such  deaths  were  not 
caused  by  violent  lawlessness.  The  population  of  the  state 
then  being  187,748,  the  proportional  number  of  violent 
deaths  was  one  in  i,8cx)  persons.  In  i860,  it  had  been  one  in 
4,000.  One  violent  or  "  unknown  "  death  in  1,800  popula- 
tion was  in  1870,  according  to  the  Federal  census,  three  or 
four  times  as  high  as  the  proportion  in  the  states  undis- 
turbed by  Reconstruction.  In  Iowa,  for  instance,  about 
one  in  7,000  met  violent  death. 

Making  allowance  for  partisan  exaggeration  and  inade- 
quate statistics,  the  conviction  will  probably  remain  with 
most  investigators  that  under  Radical  rule  the  death  rate 
in  Florida  from  physical  violence  was  alarmingly  high  for 
an  American  commonwealth  in  time  of  peace. 

The  culminating  Reconstruction  tragedy  in  Marianna 
was  the  killing  of  J.  Q.  Dickinson.  He  was  a  carpet- 
bagger from  Vermont,  of  kindly  and  even  temper,  who 
occupied  an  important  place  in  local  Republican  politics. 
He  was  justice  of  the  peace,  then  county  tax  assessor,  and 
finally  county  clerk.  He  had  seen  Marianna  pass  through 
race  conflicts  which  very  narrowly  missed  being  great 
calamities.  He  evidently  lived  in  terror.  "  Good  God, 
Hamilton,  isn't  this  awful,"  he  had  written  of  the  local 
situation.^  Though  often  threatened  he  stuck  to  his  place 
with  creditable  nerve — trading  actively  meantime,  his  en- 
emies said,  in  property  sold  for  taxes.  At  last,  one  night  in 
April,  1 87 1,  shortly  after  resigning  his  place  as  clerk  of  the 

■  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  291. 


584  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

county,  he  was  crossing  the  same  town  square  where  two 
years  before  Finlayson — the  wrong  man — had  been  assassi- 
nated. The  hour  was  nearly  the  same,  ten  o'clock.  He 
had  reached  almost  the  same  spot,  deep  in  the  shadows, 
where  Finlayson  and  Purman  had  fallen,  when  a  well- 
aimed  shot,  from  out  of  the  darkness  somewhere,  ended  his 
career. 

The  body  was  sent  North  to  the  family  and  the  murder 
furnished  Radical  politicians  in  Florida  and  out  with  added 
material  for  polemics  against  their  political  opponents.^ 
"  The  United  States  Government  has  assigned  two  places 
in  the  hall  of  statuary,  to  each  state,  for  two  of  its  most  dis- 
tinguished citizens.  I  propose,"  announced  Gibbs,  negro 
secretary  of  state, 

that  the  legislature,  at  its  next  session,  take  the  proper  steps  to 
fill  one  of  these  places  with  a  life-size  statue  of  Hon.  J.  Q. 
Dickinson,  the  martyr,  saint,  hero,  who  was  slain  in  defense 
of  the  Reconstruction  laws,  April  3,  in  Marianna.  .  .  .  He  has 
acted  his  part  nobly  in  the  grandest  tragedy  of  modern  times.^ 

After  1 87 1,  violent  lawlessness  in  Florida  perceptibly 
diminished.  The  principal  causes  of  this  partial  restoration 
of  social  order  were  the  following.  First,  many  of  the  most 
active  local  Republican  leaders,  black  and  white,  were 
cowed,  dead,  or  driven  from  the  state  by  187 1.  Second, 
the  enactment  by  Congress  in  1871  of  the  Enforcement  or 
Ku  Klux  Act  turned  the  strength  of  the  national  govern- 
ment to  the  aid  and  protection  of  Southern  Radicals. 
Third,  the  vigorous  steps  taken  by  the  representatives  of  a 
Radical  Congress  to  prove  "  conspiracy  "  against  Conser- 

^  H.  Rf>U.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  78,  85,  iii,  148,  192,  198, 
206,  217,  221. 

2/6td.,  p.  175.    Letter  of  Gibbs  to  editor  of  Lake  City  Herald,  Oct. 
29,  1871. 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  LAWLESSNESS  585 

vative  leaders  in  Florida,  frightened  or  discouraged  many 
who  had  successfully  and  boldly  defied  local  law.  Under 
concurrent  resolution  a  joint  committee  of  the  Senate  and 
House  was  appointed  in  April,  1871,  "to  inquire  into  the 
condition  of  the  late  insurrectionary  States,  so  far  as  re- 
gards the  execution  of  the  laws  and  the  safety  of  the  lives 
and  property  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States."  ^  On 
September  22nd,  this  committee  chose  two  sub-committees 
to  visit  the  Southern  states  to  obtain  information  concern- 
ing the  violation  of  the  Federal  Enforcement  Act  there. 
The  sub-committee  that  visited  Florida  was  made  up  of 
Senator  Bayard,  and  Representatives  Maynard,  Scofield, 
Lansing,  and  Voorhees.^ 

Witnesses  were  subpoenaed  and  rather  full  testimony 
taken.  The  sub-committee,  sitting  in  Jacksonville  from 
November  loth  to  November  14th,  1871,  questioned  thirty- 
three  witnesses — Radicals  and  Conservatives — on  lawless- 
ness in  Florida.  Eleven  of  the  persons  thus  examined  were 
negroes." 

Fourteen  cases  of  criminal  prosecution  under  the  Fed- 
eral Enforcement  Act  were  instituted  in  the  Federal  courts 
in  Florida  during  the  December  term,  1871.  Only  one  man 
was  convicted.  Two  cases  were  dropped,  one  reached  ac- 
quittal, and  ten  went  over  till  the  next  year."  By  1875, 
thirty-eight  such  criminal  cases  under  the  Ku  Klux  Act 
had  been  tried  in  Florida,  resulting  in  six  convictions  only."* 

1  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  i,  p.  589,  Journ.  of  Select  Com- 
mittee. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  613. 

*  Ibid.,  V.  13. 

*  Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  42nd  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  32,  p.  24, — Rpt.  of  Fed.  Dept. 
of  Justice. 

^  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  43rd  C,  1st  S.,  no.  6,  p.  26;  2nd  S.,  no.  7,  pp.  26-27, 
— Rpts.  of  atty.  gen.  1873-5. 


586  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

However,  the  Federal  department  of  justice  expended  in 
Florida  during  1871-75  more  than  $30,000  annually  for 
marshals,  deputy-marshals,  detectives,  and  testimony.^ 
Such  activity  put  a  quietus  on  all  but  bold  and  very  serious 
night-riders.  In  October,  1871,  additional  Federal  troops 
were  sent  into  Florida  to  help  enforce  the  Ku  Klux  or 
Enforcement  Act.  The  troops  were  stationed  at  Key  West, 
Barrancas,  St.  Augustine,  and  Tallahassee.^ 

The  criminal  demoralization  of  the  Reconstruction  per- 
iod was  frightful.  Men  formed  the  habit  of  defying  the 
law  and  resorting  to  violence  to  attain  their  ends.  The 
Southerner  was  certainly  face  to  face  with  negro  domina- 
tion foisted  upon  him  by  Federal  law.  He  arose  to  pro- 
tect his  own  unwritten  laws  in  order  that  his  property,  his 
self-respect,  and  his  family  might  not  be  injured  or  de- 
stroyed. He  resorted  to  physical  violence  under  cover,  in 
one  of  the  most  sinister  and  interesting  contests  of  modern 
times.  And  in  this  contest  for  a  very  necessary  supremacy 
many  a  foul  crime  was  committed  by  white  against  black. 
Innocent  people  suffered.  There  is  no  mercy  and  scant 
justice  in  social  adjustment.  The  negro  was  first  freed, 
then  enfranchised,  then  launched  in  practical  politics,  and 
then  mercilessly  beaten  into  reasonable  subjection.  "  All 
that  goes  up  must  come  down,  upon  somebody's  head  or 
upon  the  ground,"  said  one  conventional  fatalist  in  com- 
menting on  the  situation. 

^  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  43rd  C,  1st  S.,  no.  6,  p.  43;  no.  7,  p.  32. 
'  Rpt.  Sect,  of  War,  1871-2,  v.  i,  pp.  60-62. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

An  Inquiry  into  the  Causes  of  Lawlessness 

It  is  seen  that  the  inauguration  of  a  Radical  state  gov- 
ernment in  Florida  was  quickly  followed  by  a  perceptible 
increase  in  violent  disregard  of  law.  Most  of  the  offenders 
were  native  whites.  In  politics  they  were  Conservatives, 
which  meant  Democrats.  The  lawlessness  in  question  con- 
sisted usually  of  whipping  or  killing  negroes  and  white 
men  actively  identified  with  the  Radical  Republican  party. 
This  situation  suggests  a  certain  sequence,  namely,  that  the 
lawlessness  was  the  effect  of  establishing  a  local  govern- 
ment dominated  by  negroes  and  Radical  whites.  Moreover, 
it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  increase  of  lawlessness 
was  coincidental  with  the  removal  of  Federal  military  con- 
trol. As  those  persons  attacked  were  very  often  Repub- 
lican politicians,  the  assumption  is  warranted  that  the  real 
cause  of  this  social  mal-adjustment  was  political. 

Yet  the  conflict  in  Florida,  on  its  face,  was  fundament- 
ally a  race  conflict.  The  Conservative  was  a  white  man 
uniformly.  The  Radical  was  either  a  negro  or  a  white  man 
closely  identified  politically  with  the  negroes.  The  exist- 
ence of  the  Radical  Republican  party  in  Florida  depended 
absolutely  upon  the  negro  vote.  It  was  locally  a  black 
man's  party.  The  native  white  became  after  1865  more 
and  more  hostile  to  the  black  for  many  reasons,  but  prim- 
arily because  the  black  had  been  roused  to  political  class 
consciousness  by  the  Radical  Republican  party. 

Now  the  average  Southern  white  was  opposed  to  the 

587 


^88  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

negro  as  a  voter  and  office-holder  because  of  half -instinctive, 
half-rational  race  prejudice  against  the  negro  assuming 
political  functions  and  privileges  from  which  he  had  been 
hitherto  excluded.  Would  the  native  white  have  been  op- 
posed to  the  negro  as  a  voter  if  the  negro  had  cast  the  ballot 
only — had  been  excluded  from  office?  Was  it  the  fact 
that  Radical  politics  elevated  the  negro  to  places  of  public 
trust,  or  the  fact  that  negro  votes  elevated  Radical  poli- 
ticians, black  and  white,  to  places  of  public  trust,  that  pro- 
duced such  violent  opposition  among  Southern  whites  to  the 
Republican  state  government?  Was  the  Southern  white 
man  opposed  to  Radicals  or  negroes?  Obviously,  he  was 
opposed  to  each  and  therefore  doubly  opposed  to  a  combi- 
nation of  the  two,  although  the  average  Southern  white 
man's  point  of  view  seems  fairly  summed-up  in  the  chance 
statement  of  one  that  "  the  damned  Republican  Party  has 
put  the  niggers  to  rule  us  and  we  will  not  suffer  it."  ^ 

It  is  not  the  object  of  this  inquiry  to  present  the  merits 
or  demerits  of  the  Conservative's  contention.  Certainly  he 
resented  bitterly  the  political  elevation  of  the  negro.  When 
the  negro  justice  issued  writs  and  warrants  or  tried  minor 
causes,^  when  negro  legislators  went  to  Tallahassee  to 
dominate  with  their  white  confederates  the  making  of  state 
laws,  when  negro  county  commissioners  took  their  seats 
beside  white  men,^  when  negro  jurors  sat  in  judgment, 
when  negro  rowdies  with  jeering  crowded  away  the  white 
voter  at  the  polls,  when  negro  tax  officials  put  up  for  sale 
property  forfeited  because  the  white  owners  could  not  pay 
taxes,  when  negro  posses  hunted  with  guns  for  white  of- 
fenders,* when  negro  constables  arrested  whites  and  dragged 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  94. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  107.  8  Ibid.,  p.  108. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  220. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  LAWLESSNESS  589 

them  to  jail/  when  negro  politicians  and  their  white 
friends  proclaimed  in  public  meeting  the  arrival  of  racial 
equality,  political  and  social,^  and  tried  to  clinch  their  as- 
sumptions with  laws  concerning  hotels,  theatres,  and  rail- 
way cars, — when  these  outward  and  visible  signs  of  the 
Africanization  of  social  institutions  came  under  the  eyes 
of  whites,  many  individuals — rich  and  poor  (most  were 
poor),  ignorant  and  enlightened — spoke  and  did  things  in 
a  frenzy  of  race  passion  against  the  black.  It  made  little 
difference  how  successful  the  black  might  have  been  in  his 
elevated  position.  "  To  hell  with  arguments,"  exclaimed 
many  a  Southerner,  with  a  heat  suggested  by  the  record  of 
an  incident  in  Jackson  County. 

"  It  happened  in  this  way,"  testified  a  negro  ex-constable. 

I  had  some  prisoners  in  charge  by  order  of  Judge  Plantz  [car- 
pet-bagger] and  I  had  my  pistols  buckled  to  me.  He  [a  certain 
white  man  well  known  and  well  connected  in  the  neighbor- 
hood] said:  "What  are  you  doing  with  that  pistol  buckled  to 
you  ?"  I  said :  "  I  have  a  prisoner  in  charge."  He  said :  "  I 
have  a  mind  to  blow  your  God-damn  brains  out,  you  God- 
damn-Radical-son-of-a-bitch ;  you  look  pretty  wearing  a  pistol 
buckled  on  you."  I  said :  "  I  am  a  lawful  officer  and  by  order 
of  Judge  Plantz  I  am  taking  charge  of  these  prisoners."  He 
said :  "  If  you  say  that  word  again  I  will  blow  your  God- 
damn brains  out,  right  now."  He  then  walked  up,  took  a 
stick  and  struck  me  in  the  mouth.* 

A  similar  homely  outburst  is  recorded  in  connection  with 
the  sale  of  some  forfeited  property. 

Mr.  C was  to  cry  off  the  land.     I  [a  negro  constable] 

1 H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  143,  273.  Floridian, 
April  27,  1869.  Statements  by  citizens  of  Florida  who  experienced  Re- 
construction. 

*  Floridian,  May  21,  1867;  N.  Y.  Tribune,  Feb.  20,  1867. 

»  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  273. 


590  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

went  around  to  ring  the  bell  and  met  Mr.   E within 

twenty-five  yards  of  the  court  house.     He  said :  "  What  are 

you  ringing  that  bell  for  ?"     I  said :  "  Mr.  D ordered 

me  to  ring  it  for  the  sale  of  the  land.  He  said :  "  You  God- 
damn-Radical-son-of-a-bitch,  put  that  bell  down  or  I  will  kill 
you."     I  let  the  bell  fall.^ 

On  matters  pertaining  to  the  negro  in  politics  the  native 
white  was  undoubtedly  blindly  prejudiced  and  consequently 
blindly  uncompromising.  But  an  explanation  of  the  trouble 
between  white  Conservatives  and  white  and  black  Radicals 
would  be  incomplete  if  such  an  explanation  dealt  only  with 
the  half -instinctive  likes  and  dislikes  of  the  Southerner  as 
reflected  in  the  political  situation.  There  were  other  com- 
plicating factors  in  the  general  social  and  economic  situa- 
tion in  Florida,  which  played  an  obvious  part  in  giving 
form  to  the  way  in  which  race  prejudice  and  class  preju- 
dice should  assert  themselves  and  become  rational,  or  at 
least  objectively  explainable.  What  were  these  other  fac- 
tors in  the  causation  of  lawlessness? 

In  the  first  place,  some  of  the  lawlessness  in  Florida  dur- 
ing Reconstruction  was  a  direct  heritage  from  the  Civil 
War.  It  was  part  of  the  cost  of  war.  White  men  had  dif- 
fered over  the  right  or  expediency  of  Florida's  secession  in 
1 86 1.  They  had  fought  among  themselves  then.  The  Con- 
federate government,  represented  by  local  officials,  had  "  se- 
questered "  the  property  of  "  Union  men  ".  The  Federal 
government  represented  by  soldiers  or  grafters  had  "  con- 
fiscated "  the  property  of  Confederates.  Union  men  had 
led  raiding  and  plundering  parties  to  despoil  and  persecute 
one-time  neighbors  who  had  cast  their  lots  with  the  Con- 
federacy.^     Confederate    "  irregulars "     had    mercilessly 

1  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  275. 

*  For  example,  see  Off.  Reds.  Rebell.,  s.  i,  v.  35,  pt.  i,  p.  390,  Wood- 
bury's report,  May,  1864. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  LAWLESSNESS 


591 


burned  the  property  of  Union  men  and  had  hounded  de- 
serters. When  the  war  ceased  the  national  government 
became  the  guardian  of  negro  and  Union  man.  Undoubt- 
edly such  conditions  laid  a  sure  foundation  for  bitter  neigh- 
borhood quarrels,  which,  when  the  war  had  passed,  were 
settled  with  stored-up  malice,  short  shrift  and  bloodshed. 
Colonel  Sprague,  Federal  commander  in  Florida,  reported 
in  1866,  for  instance,  that  the  local  courts  were  not  in- 
clined to  do  justice  in  restoring  sequestered  property,  be- 
cause most  of  those  composing  the  courts  were  "  interested 
directly  or  indirectly  in  the  sequestered  sales  and  were  ex- 
asperated against  them  [Union  men]  for  being  deserters  ". 
In  August,  1866,  he  reported  an  "  armed  band  of  twelve 
mounted  men  in  the  vicinity  of  Tampa  bay  forcing  the 
Union  men  to  pay  for  cattle  taken  by  Union  troops  during 
the  War  ".^  From  Tampa  during  1866  came  reports  of 
fierce  neighborhood  controversies  over  the  title  to  property 
sequestered  by  the  Confederate  government,  and  in  Fer- 
nandina  and  Jacksonville  like  controversy  arose  over  prop- 
erty confiscated  by  the  Federal  government.^  In  both 
localities  the  quarreling  led  to  physical  violence.  There 
was  lawlessness  culminating  in  killings  in  Bradford  and 
Columbia  Counties  early  in  1866.  The  social  situation  at 
Cedar  Keys  was  declared  in  August  to  be  "  bad  "  for  those 
hoping  for  peace.^  Finally,  because  of  assaults  and  mur- 
ders arising  evidently  from  neighborhood  difficulties,  the 
Federal  military,  in  1866,  suspended  the  civil  government 
in  the  counties  of  Escambia,  Santa  Rosa,  Levy,  Madison, 
and  Alachua.* 

^  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  57,  p.  89. 

'  N.  Y.  Tribune,  June  7;  N.  Y.  Herald,  May  31,  1866;  H.  Ex.  Docs., 
40th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  57. 

•  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  No,  70;  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  57. 

*  A^.  Y.  Times,  July  12,  1866 ;  extract  from  Pensacola  Observer. 


eQ2  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Now  the  one-time  Union  man  became  in  many  instances 
a  "  scalawag  "  (Southern  white  Republican),  which  fact  in- 
creased the  hostility  of  his  Conservative  neighbors  who  al- 
ready disliked  him  for  what  they  believed  he  had  done  in 
the  past.  The  "  scalawag  "  saw  an  opportunity  for  better- 
ing himself  by  becoming  active  in  leading  and  organizing 
the  Republican  negro  levies.  He  was  forced  to  share  this 
leadership  with  the  "  carpet-bagger "  and  the  "  educated 
negro".  Here  we  have  moving  in  a  vicious  circle  the  course 
of  conflict  among  native  whites — beginning  with  politics 
in  the  past,  working  up  through  the  confiscation  and  de- 
struction of  war,  and  finally  coming  back  again  into  politics, 
to  be  complicated  and  overshadowed  by  the  race  question. 

There  developed  in  Florida  very  soon  after  the  war 
widespread  causes  for  quarrels  between  negroes  and  South- 
ern whites,  which  were  fairly  and  squarely  incidents  in  the 
working  out  of  that  new  economic  liberty  which  came  to 
the  black  with  his  emancipation  from  slavery.  For  in- 
stance, from  time  to  time  white  and  black  came  into  hot 
dispute  over  the  ownership  of  land.  Thousands  of  negroes 
sought  to  be  landlords.  Many  occupied  land  as  squatters, 
or  purchased,  or  homesteaded  land.  In  some  localities 
within  the  state  negro  colonies  were  projected  on  govern- 
ment lands.  The  whites  in  the  neighborhood  of  one  such 
proposed  settlement  objected  to  negro  landholders  coming 
among  them,  and  accordingly  formed  "  combinations  "  to 
keep  out  negroes  by  fair  means  or  foul.^  The  evident  fact 
that  the  negro  was  backed  and  directed  by  the  Freedmen's 
Bureau  but  increased  the  opposition  of  the  Southern  white 
to  negro  land-owners. 

Furthermore,  the  black  landseeker  was  generally  ignor- 

^  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C.  1st  S.,  No.  70;  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  57,  p.  18; 
Floridian,  Jan.  11,  1867. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  LAWLESSNESS  593 

ant  and  became  often  the  victim  of  fraud  or  error  in  the 
location  and  status  of  his  property.  John  Wallace,  a 
former  slave  and  a  prominent  figure  locally  during  Recon- 
struction, states  that 

during  the  years  1865-67  there  was  much  speculation  among 
the  freedmen  as  to  what  the  government  intended  to  do  for 
them  in  regard  to  farms;  and  as  most  of  them  had  to  work 
for  a  portion  of  the  crop,  it  induced  them  to  seek  homes  of 
their  own.  One  Stonelake,  United  States  land  register  at  Tal- 
lahassee, appointed  soon  after  the  surrender,  knowing  this  fact 
and  taking  advantage  of  the  ignorance  of  the  freedmen,  issued 
to  them  thousands  of  land  certificates  purporting  to  convey 
thousands  of  acres  of  land.  For  each  certificate  the  freedman 
was  required  to  pay  not  less  than  five  dollars,  and  as  much 
more  as  Stonelake  could  extort  from  the  more  ignorant.  He 
induced  the  most  influential  men  to  make  the  first  purchases, 
and,  it  was  generally  believed,  gave  them  a  portion  of  his  fees 
to  secure  purchasers.  The  former  masters  warned  our  people 
against  this  fraud,  but  as  Stonelake  was  one  of  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  paternal  government,  he  was  supposed  by  the 
freedmen  to  be  incapable  of  fraud  or  deception.  Many  of 
them  were  led  to  believe  that  these  lands  consisted  of  their 
former  masters'  plantations,  and  that  the  certificates  alone 
would  oust  the  latter  from  possession.^ 

Negroes  had  little  conception  of  the  lawful  way  of 
settling  land  difficulties  or  of  ousting  the  real  owners,  and 
their  white  disputants  were  sometimes  almost  as  ignorant. 
The  white  was  impatient  with  negro  disputants,  arrogant, 
and  disinclined  to  enter  into  litigation  with  a  negro  backed 
by  the  Bureau.  The  whipping  of  Samuel  Tutson  is  sug- 
gestive of  how  such  quarrels  often  ended.  "  I  bought  a 
man's  improvements,"  testified  Tutson, 

^  Wallace,  Carpet-hag  Rule,  pp.  39-40. 


594 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


a  man  by  the  name  of  Free  Thompson.  Mr.  Tire  and  Mr. 
Thompson  were  first  cousins.  After  Thompson  was  gone  with 
my  money  that  I  let  him  have  for  his  improvements,  Tire 
came  here  and  said  it  was  his  land.  I  asked  him  why  he  did 
not  let  me  know  when  I  first  came  here,  and  he  said  he  wanted 
me  to  do  a  heap  of  work  here  before  he  bothered  me.  I  said, 
"Are  you  going  to  give  me  anything  at  all  for  what  I  gave 
for  the  land  ?"  He  said,  "  No."  I  said,  "Are  you  going  to 
give  me  anything  for  the  crop  in  the  ground  ?"  He  said,  "  No." 
He  said  that  it  was  his  land,  that  Free  Thompson  had  sold  it 
to  me,  and  that  he  wanted  me  to  give  it  up. 

Tutson  refused  to  give  up  the  land  and  as  a  result  he  and 
his  wife  were  whipped,  their  house  pulled  down,  and  they 
driven  ofiF  the  land.^ 

Similar  controversies  between  white  and  black  arose 
over  the  loss  by  whites  of  cotton,  live  stock,  and  plantation 
fixtures  by  theft,  and  outbuildings  by  fire.  Dishonest  and 
shiftless  negroes  and  white  men — particularly  negroes — for 
several  years  following  the  war  slaughtered  in  the  woods 
hogs,  sheep,  and  cattle  which  did  not  belong  to  them.  Cot- 
ton was  stolen  from  gin-houses  and  fields  at  night.  Barns 
and  gin-houses  occasionally  burned.^  The  exasperated 
owners  looked  about  for  the  thief  or  the  incendiary  and 
not  infrequently  seized  and  punished  without  recourse  to 
law  some  negroes  in  the  neighborhood.^  In  Madison 
County,  for  instance,  a  negro  man,  his  wife,  and  his 
daughter  were  all  three  severely  whipped  by  whites  as  pun- 
ishment for  stealing  hogs.* 

Why  did  the  white  property-holders  thus  suffering  from 

^  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  56. 

*  For  instances,  see  complaints  in  Floridian,  Nov.  27,  1867;  Dec.  8, 
1868,  etc. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  54. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  127. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  LAWLESSNESS  595 

depredation  not  turn  to  the  courts  for  redress?  Such  a 
course  would  have  been  followed  in  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut,  probably.  In  many  back  counties  of  Florida, 
however,  white  men  were  not  accustomed  to  deal  through 
the  courts  with  black  men.  In  this  way  the  ideas  of  a 
slavery  regime  projected  themselves,  after  the  destruction 
of  the  institution  itself,  into  Southern  society. 

There  were  more  immediate  reasons  which  deterred 
some  white  men  from  criminally  prosecuting  in  the  courts. 
The  juries  were  partly  black  after  the  spring  of  1867;  the 
judges  were  of  a  political  stripe  with  the  negro;  and  the 
Freedmen's  Bureau  might  interfere.  The  native  white  felt 
that  justice  would  not  be  done  him  in  the  courts.^  Such  a 
condition  as  this  tended  to  produce  a  habit  of  personal  pun- 
ishment, outside  of  the  law,  that  often  degenerated  into  the 
worst  form  of  persecution  and  brutality  on  the  part  of  un- 
scrupulous white  men. 

Another  obvious  economic  cause  for  bad  feeling  between 
the  races  was  the  system  of  labor  contracts  as  then  admin- 
istered under  the  eyes  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau.  This  sub- 
ject has  been  dealt  with  to  some  extent  already.  If  most 
white  men  had  been  strictly  honest ;  and  most  negroes  mod- 
erately intelligent,  honest,  and  thrifty;  and  most  agents  of 
the  Freedmen's  Bureau  competent  and  disinterested  ser- 
vants of  the  law,  there  is  no  reason  why  the  contract  sys- 
tem should  have  caused  much  trouble.  But  unfortunately 
in  many  cases  few  of  these  conditions  were  true.  Some 
white  landlords  were  deliberately  bent  on  getting  the  best 
of  the  negroes  in  the  making  of  contracts  for  labor — bent 
on  cheating  them  ^  —  "  but  these  are  exceptional  cases  ", 

■     ^H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  65. 

'  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  1st  S.,  No.  70;  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  57;  Sen. 
Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  6;  H.  Rpts.,  41st  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  121. 
All  of  foregoing  are  Freedmen's  Bureau  Rpts. 


596  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

testified  the  Bureau  commissioner  in  1865.^       The  black 
was  generally  very  ignorant  and  seldom  very  honest. 
A  Florida  negro  in  summing-up  the  situation  said : 

In  the  first  place,  a  majority  of  the  negroes  did  not  know  how 
to  make  a  contract  for  their  interests.  The  farmers  who 
make  the  contracts  with  them  draw  up  the  contracts  in  writing 
and  read  it  to  them.  The  colored  people  are  generally  unedu- 
cated, and  when  a  contract  says  this  or  that,  they  hardly  know 
what  it  means.  A  great  many  of  the  contracts  give  the  far- 
mer a  lien  upon  that  portion  of  the  crop  that  is  coming  to  them 
[the  negroes]  for  any  debt  they  incur.  Another  reason  why 
they  do  not  get  much  is  that  in  the  months  of  August  and 
September,  mostly,  when  the  crops  are  laid  by,  the  sHghtest 
insult  is  sufficient  to  turn  them  off  and,  according  to  the  con- 
tract, they  get  nothing.     The  contracts  are  made  that'way.^ 

This  testimony  contains  the  point  of  an  important  truth, 
but  is  partisan  and  would  have  been  juster  had  it  included 
reference  to  two  things:  first,  the  common  practice  of 
Bureau  officials  of  passing  on  contracts  before  they  were 
signed;  second,  the  common  practice  of  negroes  of  drawing 
in  advance  ail  that  was  to  be  paid  them.*  At  the  end  of 
the  season  when  the  landlord  refused  to  pay  them  more, 
they  would  carry  a  complaint  to  the  Bureau. 

This  institution,  the  Bureau,  we  have  seen,  exercised 
control  over  contracts  and  was  often  arbitrary  and  unwise, 
and  if  not  downright  dishonest  it  was  thought  to  be  so  by 
many  reputable  Southern  whites.*     In  Jackson  County,  for 

^Sen.  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  6,  p.  275. 
'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  loi. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  106.     Meacham,  on  being  closely  questioned,  admitted  the 
truth  of  this  practice. 

*  See   criticism   of   Bureau  in   Wallace,   op.  cit.,   pp.   40-41 ;    Rerick, 
Memoirs  of  Florida,  v.  i,  p.  310. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  LAWLESSNESS  597 

instance,  contracts  already  made  were  broken  by  order  of 
the  local  Bureau  agent,  charges  levied  for  the  making 
of  new  contracts,  "  and,"  said  C.  F.  Hamilton,  the  agent, 
"  I  called  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  the  county  before 
we  went  into  the  new  contract  movement,  in  order  to  devise 
some  uniform  system  of  free  labor  in  the  state".  You 
say  "  a  meeting  of  citizens.  I  suppose  you  mean  the 
hired  laborers?"  (negroes),  was  asked  of  Hamilton.  "Yes, 
sir,"  was  the  reply.^  For  a  Federal  official  to  call  together 
in  public  meeting  at  that  time  the  negroes,  in  order  to  devise 
with  them  what  terms  would  be  offered  to  the  white  land- 
lords, their  former  masters,  was  not  a  measure  fashioned 
toward  making  peace.  In  the  eyes  of  the  Southern  planter 
it  was  putting  the  cart  before  the  horse  with  vicious  and 
cunning,  intent. 

Underlying  all  economic  causes  for  opposition  by  Con- 
servative white  to  the  negro  and  his  white  political  asso- 
ciate, was  the  deplorable  condition  of  state  finances,  public 
and  private,  after  the  first  two  or  three  years  of  Repub- 
lican rule.  The  immediate  questions  for  consideration 
here  are:  first,  how  did  this  bear  upon  the  individual  citi- 
zen ?  second,  how  did  it  help  produce,  directly  or  indirectly, 
physical  violence? 

Most  property-holders  in  Florida  were  Conservative 
Southern  whites.  They  found  themselves  obliged  to  pay 
taxes  which  mounted  at  a  rate  that  was  almost  confiscatory 
because  of  the  demoralization  of  Southern  industry.  This 
threatened  to  reduce  some  planters  to  a  hopeless  state  of 
debt,  and  to  bring  to  pass  a  widespread  forced  sale  by  offi- 

'  H.  Rpis.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  281-2,  testimony  of 
Hamilton ;  also  see  testimony  i  f  J.  J.  Williams,  Conservative,  p.  232. 
H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40  h  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  57.  P-  77.  Col.  Flint  (U.  S.  A.) 
declared  in  May,  1866,  that  "  combinations "  existed  among  blacks  to 
force  white  landlords  to  pay  high  wages. 


598  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

cers  of  the  law.  These  officers,  who  were  black  and  white 
Republicans,  traded  actively  in  forfeited  property.  The 
taxable  property  (real  and  personal)  of  the  state  in  1870 
was  estimated  to  represent  a  value  of  $34,439,059.  Upon 
this  valuation,  considered  by  many  an  arbitrary  and  raised 
valuation,  were  assessed  for  the  fiscal  year  1869-70  state 
taxes  amounting  to  $234,672;  county  taxes  amounting  to 
$168,387;  and  town  taxes  amounting  to  $79,000;  in  all 
$482,070.^  This  tax  of  one-half  million  dollars  had  to  be 
paid  largely  out  of  the  income  from  personal  property, 
because  so  much  of  the  real  property  was  not  producing  a 
surplus,  and  mortgages  on  relatively  small  bits  of  real  es- 
tate in  Florida  could  raise  little  money  at  this  time.  Per- 
sonal property  was  assessed  at  $11,721,521.  Therefore  it 
is  seen  that  yearly  taxes  in  Florida  amounted  to  more  than 
four  per  cent  of  the  total  value  of  personal  property  in  the 
state,  and  probably  75  per  cent  of  the  gross  income  from 
such  property.  The  taxes  were  rising.  For  1871-72,  state, 
county,  and  municipal  taxes  amounted  to  almost  a  million 
dollars,^  more  than  eight  per  cent  of  the  total  value  of  per- 
sonal property  and  almost  two  and  one-half  per  cent  of  all 
property.  The  state  tax  rate  alone  mounted  from  fifty 
cents  on  the  $100  in  1867  to  $1.37  in  1871.* 

"  I  do  not  think  that  the  surplus  of  the  state  will  pay  the 
taxes  of  the  state,"  said  Republican  Judge  Long  in  1871, 
before  a  Republican  committee  of  Congress — "  take  the 
railroad  tax,  school  tax,  militia  tax,  county  tax,  state  tax, 
and  municipal  tax.  Owing  to  the  recent  storms  here  and 
the  distress  of  the  country  I  do  not  think  there  will  be  a 
surplus  in  the  state  to  pay  the  taxes.    The  owner  of  a  farm 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  i,  p.  160. 

'  Ibid.,  V.  13,  p.  209. 

»  Herbert,  Why  the  Solid  South?  [Pasco],  p.  157. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  LAWLESSNESS 


599 


will  have  to  not  pay  his  laborers  if  he  pays  his  taxes. 
Farmers  have  failed  in  their  crops."  When  asked  if  these 
taxes  could  be  collected  without  a  forced  sale  by  the  state, 
Long  replied,  "  Not  in  a  great  many  parts  of  the  state."  ^ 
Another  white  Republican — a  man  of  property  from  the 
North,  who  had  invested  in  Florida — declared,  "  It  [the 
tax  rate]  has  increased  abominably.  A  year  or  two  after 
the  War  the  tax  rate  in  this  county  [Leon]  was  $5,000. 
Now  [1871]  it  is  $30,000,  and  according  to  the  estimate  it 
may  run  up  to  $60,000."  ^ 

The  "  Tax  Payers  Convention  "  composed  of  Republi- 
cans and  Democrats,  which  met  in  September,  1871,  de- 
clared that  taxes  were  oppressively  high,  and  the  system  of 
collection  oppressively  harsh  in  its  operation.  "  The  pres- 
ent exorbitant  rate  of  taxation,"  ran  its  resolutions,  "  is 
not  only  detrimental  to  the  prosperity  of  the  State  but  an 
injustice  to  a  large  mass  of  the  citizens  who  are  compelled 
to  bear  the  burdens  of  its  payment,  and  which  must  from 
necessity  militate  against  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich,  and 
especially  upon  the  laboring  and  producing  class  of  our  citi- 
zens." « 

A  Democratic  judge  spoke  of  the  situation  as  follows : 

There  is  another  thing  I  would  like  to  speak  of,  and  that  is 
the  deplorable  condition  of  affairs  in  our  State — a  wasteful 
expenditure  of  public  money,  a  reckless  disregard  for  the  in- 
terest of  the  State  in  creating  obligations,  that  has  grown  out 
of  the  administration  of  the  government  under  its  head.  I 
have  no  hesitation  in  saying  so.  .  .  .  Our  taxation  has  grown 
gradually  from  $120,000  at  the  outside  to  $460,000;  the  in- 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  211.  The  gross  value  of 
all  products  in  Florida  for  1871  was  estimated  to  be  $9,000,000.00;  v.  i, 
p.  161. 

^Ibid.,  V.  13,  p.  242. 

*  Ihid.,  p.  209;  Rerick,  op.  cit.,  v.  i,  p.  321. 


6oo  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

debtedness  of  the  State  from  $700,000  to  from  $8,000,000  to 
$9,000,000,  including  bonds  authorized  to  be  issued.  The  credit 
of  the  State  of  Florida  to-day  is  utterly  worthless  and  pros- 
trate.^ 

The  foregoing  testimony  from  Democrats  and  Repub- 
licans is  indicative  that  the  fiscal  program  of  the  common- 
wealth government  was,  by  1871,  bearing  heavily  upon  the 
pockets  of  the  property-holders.  The  property-holders 
were  Conservatives.  Most  of  the  other  people  were  ne- 
groes. The  Conservatives  were  whites.  They  had  once 
ruled  the  state.  Having  been  driven  from  power  by  a  hos- 
tile national  government  they  were  now  merely  the  gov- 
erned, not  the  governors.  "  Conquered  states,"  once  wrote 
Machiavelli,  "  that  have  been  accustomed  to  liberty  and  the 
government  of  their  own  laws,  can  be  held  by  the  con- 
queror in  three  different  ways.  The  first  is  to  ruin  them." 
The  Italian's  conclusion  was,  strangely  enough,  not  a  bad 
expression  of  the  opinion  of  the  average  Southern  prop- 
erty-holder in  Florida.  He  had  reason  to  believe  that  the 
state,  now  controlled  by  newcomers,  was  ruining  him. 
Even  discounting  the  accuracy  of  figures  and  making  al- 
lowance for  exaggeration  and  lying  from  political  bias,  the 
general  conclusion  will  remain  that  in  Florida  many  peo- 
ple at  least  thought  taxes  were  high  and  heavy.^ 

"  I  hope  there  is  a  sentiment  among  the  members  of  the 
legislature  to  relieve  the  people  of  Florida,  for  they  are  in 
a  very  critical  condition  so  far  as  their  finances  are  con- 
cerned," stated  Republican  Judge  Long  in  1871.' 

Faced  by  a  tax  which  either  he  could  not  pay  at  all,  or 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  301 ;  v.  i,  pp.  160-7 ;  340 
344. 
»  Ibid.,  pp.  244-s ;  An.  Cyclo.,  1871. 
3  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  212. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  LAWLESSNESS  6oi 

> could  pay  only  with  considerable  sacrifice,  the  property- 
holder  damned  the  government,  or,  more  accurately,  the 
political  party  administering  that  government.  He  was  not 
inclined  to  combat  violence  directed  against  the  rank  and 
file  of  that  party  in  efforts  to  drive  it  from  power.  Thus 
the  onerousness  of  the  tax  rate  aided  in  creating  a  dissatis- 
faction and  an  adverse  public  opinion  among  Southern 
whites  against  the  Radical  regime,  and  this  public  opinion 
countenanced  a  defiance  of  law  for  the  accomplishment  of  a 
certain  end.  The  end  sought  was  the  overthrow  of  Radical 
rule. 

In  examining  the  record  of  lawlessness  in  Florida  dur- 
ing this  period,  account  must  be  taken  of  those  fundamental 
defects  in  human  nature  which  in  times  of  social  unrest  are 
apt  to  produce  the  phenomenon  known  as  the  "  bad  man  ". 
The  malicious  person  comes  quickly  to  the  surface  amid 
the  demoralization  of  a  revolution.  Some  persons  enjoy 
being  bullies  and  blackguards  because  fundamentally  all 
persons  get  pleasure  in  being  positively  what  they  are. 
Some  degenerates  have  the  normal  sense  so  far  warped  as 
physically  to  enjoy  brutality.  The  man  who  rapes  the 
corpse  of  his  victim  is  such  a  pathological  specimen.  Many 
incidents  in  the  course  of  Reconstruction  violence  were  the 
work  of  bad  men — pathological  criminals — taking  advan- 
tage of  social  disorder  to  wantonly  work  mischief  or  to 
satisfy  private  grudges  of  trifling  import.^ 

Whiskey  was  a  potent  cause  in  making  a  malicious  man 
more  malicious,  or  of  transforming  for  a  time  an  ordinarily 
harmless  citizen  into  a  dangerous  man.^    The  drunken  negro 

*  The  whipping  of  the  Tutsons  and  of  W.  R.  Cone  seems  to  have 
been  the  work  of  thugs.  Young  white  boys  often  played  the  part  of 
rowdies.  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  54-60,  62-72,  96, 
154- 

'  H.  R/^ts..  42nd  C.  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  176-184,  187,  204-5.  The 
killing  of  Dr.  Krimminger  was  probably  the  work  of  a  man  crazed 
with  liquor. 


6o2  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

in  the  little  towns  became  insistently  insolent  and  invited 
killing.  The  white  man  in  a  drunken  row  sought  rather 
than  avoided  trouble — and  usually  with  a  pistol  in  his  hip 
pocket.^ 

A  certain  circuit  judge  of  that  period  said : 

I  will  state  further  that  there  are  bad  men  in  our  country,  as 
I  suppose  there  are  in  every  country,  who  band  themselves 
together,  three  or  four  at  a  time,  and  perform  certain  bad 
deeds.  Two  or  three  bad  men  will  get  together  for  malice  or 
revenge  or  hatred  and  to  carry  out  a  certain  object  will  do  a 
great  many  bad  deeds.  .  .  .  There  are  a  few  bad  men  in  every 
county  that  I  have  been  in. 

The  paralyzed  condition  of  local  government  soon  after 
the  inauguration  of  Republican  rule  contributed  consid- 
erably toward  lawlessness  and  crime  by  offering  weak  com- 
bat against  its  development.  It  was  often  impossible  to  en- 
force the  law  because  citizens  refused  to  act  in  certain 
public  capacities,  or  if  they  did  act,  they  sought  to  hinder 
the  operation  of  the  law  rather  than  to  further  its  enforce- 
ment.^ 

"  I  believe  the  officers  are  disposed  to  do  their  duty,"  tes- 
tified Republican  Judge  Tidwell.  "  But  I  do  not  believe 
that  everyone  will  give  the  officers  the  assistance  neces- 
sary." ^  "  So  far  as  the  laws  are  concerned,"  stated  a  negro 
preacher-politician,  "  the  laws  of  this  state  are  as  good  as 
any  man  can  ask,  but  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  they  have  not 
been  carried  out  in  many  cases."  * 

*  Many  white  men  habitually  went  armed.  See  presentment  of  grand 
jury  of  Leon  County,  May,  1869;  also  proclamation  of  mayor  of  Talla- 
hassee, Floridian,  Nov.  12,  1867 ;  also  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22, 
V.  13. 

» Ibid.,  p.  258. 
^  Ibid.,  p.  115. 
*Ibid.,  p.  165,  C.  H.  Pearce. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  LAWLESSNESS  603 

A  hostile  public  opinion  among  Southern  whites  some- 
times deterred  officers  from  acting.  "  I  had  a  case  that 
occurred  a  while  ago  with  my  deputy,"  said  the  Radical 
white  sheriff  of  Madison  County.  "  A  man  came  in  town 
named  Packer,  pulled  a  pistol  on  a  colored  man  and  said 
he  was  going  to  shoot  him.  The  deputy  said :  '  Put  that 
pistol  up  or  I  will  arrest  you.'  Some  half-dozen  men  stepped 
up  and  said  he  could  not  arrest  him."  ^ 

The  sheriff  of  Jackson  County  was  unable  often  to  serve 
warrants  during  1868-70  because  public  sentiment  was  so 
strongly  and  dangerously  against  him.  He  claimed  that  he 
received  threatening  letters  and  that  he  feared  for  his  life 
if  he  went  out  of  Marianna  to  serve  a  warrant.  On  one 
occasion  he  was  assaulted  in  the  streets  of  that  town  and 
severely  beaten.^  The  town  marshal  of  Lake  City  was  de- 
fied and  fired  upon.  The  Republican  sheriff  of  Columbia 
County  was  driven  from  the  village  of  Ellisville  and  forced 
to  resign  his  office.  The  United  States  deputy  marshal  in 
Lake  City  was  openly  resisted  and  unable  to  make  arrests."* 

Government  broke  down  in  other  directions,  notably  in 
the  actions  of  coroners'  juries,  grand  juries,  and  petit 
juries.*  In  the  case  of  killings,  the  coroner's  juries  ren- 
dered almost  invariably  the  verdict  "  killed  by  unknown  ", 
and  the  matter  ended  there.  At  Marianna  on  one  occasion 
the  crowd  would  not  allow  an  inquest  over  the  body  of  a 
murdered  negro. ^  White  men  refused  to  act  on  coroner's 
juries  and  many  negroes  feared  to  do  so,  and  feared  to 
render  a  true  decision  if  they  did  so. 

Although  the  murders,  attempts  at  murder,  and  whip- 
pings in  Florida  during  the  first  three  or  four  years  of 

1 H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  130. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  148.  '  Ibid.,  p.  263. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  203.  '  Ibid.,  p.  79. 


6o4  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Radical  rule  numbered  at  least  many  hundreds,  the  num- 
ber of  prosecutions  attempted  by  the  state  and  county 
courts  were  very  few.  In  the  vast  majority  of  cases,  the 
grand  juries  did  not  issue  an  indictment.  When,  for  in- 
stance, the  Jewish  merchant  Fleishman  was  openly  seized 
and  carried  out  of  Jackson  County  by  a  band  of  armed  citi- 
zens, the  grand  jury  rendered  this  verdict:  "  We  the  grand 
jury  have  examined  diligently  into  the  within  case  and 
cannot  find  it  a  case  of  kidnapping."  ^ 

"If  the  grand  juries  could  be  brought  to  find  true  bills, 
they  could  do  it  upon  the  evidence  which  would  be  pre- 
sented to  them,  but  they  are  in  fear  and  cannot  be  made  to 
do  it,"  stated  W,  J.  Purman,  Republican  boss  of  Jackson 
County.  "  Petit  juries  will  not  convict  these  murderers 
because  of  the  general  sentiment  which  justifies  their  pro- 
ceedings." ^ 

"  Do  you  think  you  could  convict  and  punish  a  white 
man  in  your  county  to  the  extent  of  the  law  for  killing  a 
colored  man  ?  "  was  asked  Colonel  Lemuel  Wilson,  a  repu- 
table native  white  Republican  of  Alachua  County.  He  re- 
plied : 

I  will  tell  you  my  opinion  that  I  have  expressed  everywhere 
among  our  people.  It  is  that  I  believe  that  a  negro's  rights — 
his  rights  of  property — would  be  secure  before  a  jury,  that  a 
jury  of  our  country  would  grant  him  perfect  rights  in  a  court 
of  law  in  a  matter  of  property,  but  in  criminal  matters  I  do 
not  think  they  would.  I  think  it  is  a  difficult  matter  to  convict 
a  white  man  of  murder  for  killing  a  negro.  I  am  sorry  to  say 
it,  but  that  is  my  opinion.' 

1  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  81-2. 

» Ibid.,  p.  148. 

« Ibid.,  p.  197;  see  also  testimony  of  L.  G.  Dennis,  p.  268,  and  of  Wm. 
Bryson,  p.  258. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  LAWLESSNESS  605 

These  expressions  of  opinion  were  from  white  Repub- 
licans and  hence  are  justly  subject  to  criticism  as  partisan. 
They  dealt  with  courts  and  juries  controlled  by  Southern 
whites.  Such  courts  and  juries  were  not  found  in  all  parts 
of  Florida.  The  Conservative  whites  were  determined  to 
avoid  punishing  those  whites  accused  of  killing  or  mal- 
treating negroes  or  white  Republicans,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Conservative  whites  were  not  inclined  to  seek  to 
persecute  the  negro  through  the  courts  and  juries  which 
they  might  control. 

Before  the  reconstruction  of  the  state  government  by 
Congress  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  officials  often  denied  that 
the  black  obtained  justice  in  the  state  courts.  General 
Foster,  Federal  commander  in  Florida,  stated  in  July,  1866, 
that  when  Southern  Conservatives  constituted  the  court 
"  the  instances  of  injustice  in  the  administration  of  the  law 
by  the  courts  have  been  so  frequent  as  to  lead  the  colored 
people  generally  to  regard  them  as  only  engines  of  oppres- 
sion to  the  race.  This  necessarily  engenders  in  them  a  dis- 
position to  suspect,  to  evade,  or  even  to  combine  for  safety 
or  resistance."  ^ 

Judge  Douglas,  an  old  resident  of  Florida,  and  a  one- 
time supporter  of  the  Confederacy,  referred  in  1871  to 
this  question  of  juries  and  justices  in  the  following  obser- 
vation. 

I  can  say  with  the  most  perfect  confidence  and  with  all  the 
solemnity  which  I  could  attach  to  my  oath,  that  I  have  never 
seen  justice  more  impartially  administered  to  any  race  of  men, 
than  it  has  been  to  the  colored  man.  There  are  two  courts  in 
the  State  which  have  criminal  jurisdiction:  one  is  the  circuit 

»  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  57.  pp.  12-13.  In  1871.  R.  W. 
Cone,  scalawag,  stated  that  it  was  impossible  for  a  Republican  to  get 
justice  in  a  state  court  when  Conservatives  were  involved.  "  They  al- 
ways bring  up  evidence  to  clear  themselves,"  he  said. 


6o6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

court,  which  has  jurisdiction  of  felonies,  and  the  other  is  the 
county  court,  which  has  jurisdiction  of  misdemeanors.  I  prac- 
tice in  both  the  courts,  and  there  are  abundant  men  who  can 
testify  that  I  probably  do  more  practice  for  the  colored  man 
than  any  other  man  in  the  State.  I  can  say  that  since  '68, 
since  the  organization  of  the  government,  I  think  I  have  de- 
fended over  a  hundred  colored  people,  and  I  have  not  received 
for  my  services  $50.  I  do  it  without  reward.  There  are  other 
lawyers  who  do  the  same  thing.  During  that  time  I  have 
never  seen  a  jury  of  white  men  exclusively.  There  are  always 
some  colored  men  on  the  jury.  .  .  .  Colored  people  have  fair 
trials,  and  I  think  there  is  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 
jurors,  especially  white  jurors,  to  treat  with  remarkable  leni- 
ency all  their  shortcomings.  In  defending  a  colored  man  I 
would  as  soon  have  a  jury  of  intelligent  white  men,  former 
slaveholders,  as  black  men.  I  would  feel  as  confident  of  hav- 
ing justice  done  him.^ 

No  mention  has  been  made  so  far  of  two  powerful  causes 
of  racial  and  political  estrangement  during  Reconstruction 
times — namely,  negro  secret  societies,  and  incendiary  ad- 
vice to  blacks  from  Radical  white  leaders,  among  whom 
were  many  Freedmen's  Bureau  officials.  The  general  char- 
acter of  Union  Leagues  and  Lincoln  Brotherhoods  has  been 
discussed  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  prime  purpose  of 
these  leagues  and  brotherhoods  was  to  defeat  the  Conserva- 
tive whites  at  the  polls.  They  helped  compass  this  defeat 
but  also  helped  arouse  a  fear  and  a  resentment  which 
shortly  bore  bitter  and  bloody  fruit. 

White  and  black  Radical  leaders  were  suspected  by  the 
Conservative  Southerner  of  making  to  negro  audiences,  in 
churches  and  lodge-rooms,  speeches  full  of  criminal  sug- 
gestions and  revolutionary  advice.^     In  a  word,  the  black 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  299. 
»  Floridian,  Aug.  30,  Sept.   17,  1867.     Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.   107.     H. 
Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  231. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  LAWLESSNESS  607 

was  sometimes  counseled  to  get  his  so-called  rights  even  if 
he  had  to  commit  a  crime.  Gin-houses  of  white  landlords 
were  burned.  Negroes  assumed  a  bold  and  threatening  at- 
titude. Black  military  companies  were  organized.^  Assass- 
inations were  occasionally  perpetrated  by  blacks.  The  fol- 
lowing notice,  found  posted  one  spring  morning  in  1868  on 
the  post-office  door  in  Monticello,  is  suggestive  of  the  inso- 
lent point  of  view  of  the  negro.  "  We  understand  that  the 
White  PeoPle  in  This  Place  Say  they  iNTend  to  Kill  some 
of  the  colored  PeoPle  in  This  Place  if  such  a  thing  is 
started  Hear  We  Would  Not  give  much  for  this  Place 
Town  and  PeoPle." ' 

Thus  as  an  instigator  of  evil,  the  "  bad  man  "  among 
Republicans  proved  an  unfortunate  sort  of  counterpoise  for 
the  few  reckless  and  dirty  Southern  whites  among  Conser- 
vatives who,  hiding  behind  the  issue  of  righteous  conflict 
for  the  supremacy  of  the  white  race,  carried  on  wanton  per- 
secution usually  in  the  dark  of  the  moon. 

"  We  know  that  colored  men  are  prejudiced  and  ignor- 
ant," observed  a  Southern  white  man  at  the  time,  "  but 
generally  willing  to  do  right.  They  are  led  astray  by  bad 
and  wicked  men."  He  referred  to  the  notorious  white  Radi- 
cal leaders  in  Florida. 

In  seeking  for  some  major  cause  underlying  violent  law- 
lessness in  Florida  during  Reconstruction  we  are  forced 
back  to  the  conclusion  begun  with,  that  affecting  in  some 
fashion  most  cases  of  flagrant  disregard  for  law  was  poli- 
tics— the  desperate  contest  waged  between  Conservative 
and  Radical.  It  is  true  that  society  was  in  a  demoralized 
condition  after  the  war,  and  it  is  true  that  crime  thrives 
amid  social  demoralization,  but  no  such  reign  of  assassina- 

1  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  122. 

*  Floridian,  May  5,  1868,  from  Jefferson  Gazette,  May  i. 


6o8  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

tion  and  terror  would  have  come  to  pass  if  the  political 
contest  within  the  state  had  not  taken  on  the  form  of  a 
racial  and  class  contest.  The  Southern  whites,  as  a  class, 
were  determined  on  driving  the  Republicans  from  political 
control  because,  to  the  Southerner,  the  rank  and  file  of  that 
party  were  for  racial  reasons  obnoxious  as  voters  or  office- 
holders. 

To  the  Republican  politician  this  uncompromising  atti- 
tude of  the  Southern  white  was  strange  and  bad.  "  Judg- 
ing from  the  demonstrations  that  are  made,"  said  W.  J. 
Purman,  "  the  object  must  be  the  extirpation  of  the  promi- 
nent Republican  and  Union  men  in  this  country  for  the 
purpose  of  seizing  hold  of  the  state  government  and  state 
offices.  In  other  words,  the  object  is  the  murder  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  state,  and  the  intimi- 
dation of  the  other  Republicans,  and  in  this  way  to  obtain 
possession  and  control  of  the  state  government."  ^  This 
conclusion  while  painful  was,  in  part,  a  correct  view  of  the 
situation. 

But  what  of  the  objects  of  the  other  side?  What  was 
the  prime  object  of  Radical  Republican  leaders?  They 
were  not  in  politics  for  their  health.  A  question  asked  a 
Republican  judge  of  Florida,  and  his  answer,  sum  up  fairly 
the  situation.  "  Do  I  understand  that  you  attribute  the 
bad  condition  of  feeling  and  lawlessness  in  your  commu- 
nity to  the  causes  that  you  have  mentioned,  that  is  to  say, 
to  the  ambition  of  men  lately  come  into  your  state  to  pro- 
vide themselves  with  office,  and  their  efforts  to  use  the 
colored  race  as  stepping  stones  to  obtain  them?"  asked 
Senator  Bayard  of  the  judge.  The  judge,  after  a  pause, 
replied :  "  That  is  the  whole  truth  of  the  whole  matter 
when  you  come  to  think  it  out."  ^ 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  149. 
»  Ibid.,  p.  20S. 


,  THE  CAUSES  OF  LAWLESSNESS  609 

The  political  contest  for  the  control  of  Florida  drew 
more  sharply  the  line  between  the  races  and  accentuated  the 
spirit  of  distrust  between  men  of  opposing  parties.  There 
was  scant  ground  for  compromise.  The  Conservatives,  as 
one  Radical  put  it,  "  make  no  distinction  about  men  who 
have  joined  the  Republican  party.  A  Northern  man  is  *  a 
damn  Yankee  who  came  here  to  rule  us  '  and  a  Southern 
man  who  joined  the  Republican  party  is  *  a  damn  scala- 
wag '  and  there  was  no  honesty  about  him ;  he  was  a  traitor 
to  his  country  and  to  his  race."  ^ 

In  the  desperate  effort  to  remove  "  the  bottom  rail  " 
from  the  top,  the  average  Southern  white  man  was  will- 
ing to  try  almost  any  expedient.  "  One  man  says  that  he 
would  sooner  have  a  king  anyhow,  that  he  would  sooner 
have  the  King  of  Dahomey,"  declared  Malachi  Martin,  the 
Radical  Irish-American  prison  warden.^  He  had  been  al- 
most overcome  in  recent  rioting  over  the  elections  in  Gads- 
den County.  "  While  Mr.  Meacham  [a  negro]  was  ad- 
dressing a  meeting  at  Quincy,"  said  Martin,  "  I  heard  one 
gentleman  say  *  Damn  him,  I  wish  he  and  all  the  Radicals 
were  in  Hell  and  I  had  the  key.'  I  was  near  him  and  asked 
him  on  which  side  of  the  door  he  wanted  to  be.  He  said 
he  did  not  know  but  that  he  would  be  damned  if  he  would 
not  be  willing  to  be  inside  if  he  could  keep  all  the  others  in 
there."  « 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  100. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  195. 
» Ihid.,  p.  187. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

Party  Politics  to  the  Beginning  of  Republican 
Decline,  and  After 

Before  Republicans  succeeded  in  establishing  a  new 
government  for  Florida  they  were  fiercely  quarreling 
among  themselves.  It  has  been  seen  that  the  inauguration 
of  a  system  which  they  completely  controlled  did  not  bring 
harmony  either  within  the  party  or  without.  The  negro 
politician  and  his  seedy,  aggressive  white  associate  set 
bad  examples,  and  their  escapades  helped  fan  into  vicious 
flame  any  Conservative  prejudices  which  might  have  been 
smouldering.  The  experiences  of  1868-9  indicated  several 
unpleasant  things  for  most  Southern  whites :  the  state  was 
being  looted;  they  were  receiving  no  part  of  the  loot; 
bloody  lawlessness  was  increasing;  government  was  degen- 
erating into  a  mockery.  The  Republican  party,  backed  by 
crushing  and  well-drilled  negro  majorities,  seemed  safely 
established  for  a  long  period.  The  dissension  among  Rad- 
ical leaders  was  for  the  time  the  white  man's  hope,  and 
about  his  only  hope.  Radicals  might  become  sufficiently 
divided  to  lose  their  grip  upon  the  destinies  of  the  state. 

The  negro,  William  U.  Saunders — termed  popularly 
"  Colonel  Saunders  " — who  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Flor- 
ida from  Baltimore  became  a  confederate  of  Billings  and 
Richards  in  the  constitutional  convention,  was  induced  to 
return  to  the  regular  Republican  organization  on  the  signal 
defeat  of  his  faction  in  this  convention.  His  suppression 
was  only  temporary,  however.  In  the  autumn  of  1868,  an 
organization  entitled  "  The  Unterrified  Tiger  Committee," 
610 


PARTY  POLITICS  6l  I 

announced  him  as  an  "  independent  candidate  "  for  Con- 
gress in  opposition  to  the  regular  Republican  nominee, 
Hamilton,  and  the  Democratic  nominee,  Barnes.'  The 
Democrats  encouraged  Saunders's  secession.  "As  a  speaker 
we  have  never  heard  him  equaled,"  stated  the  Conservative 
Floridian,  with  some  truth,  maybe.  "  His  manner  is  gen- 
teel and  his  language  is  good.  Between  him  and  Hamilton 
there  is  no  comparison."  The  regular  Republican  news- 
papers accused  the  Democratic  state  committee  of  bribing 
Saunders  to  become  a  candidate  by  the  payment  of  $500 
and  the  gift  of  a  pass  over  the  Pensacola  and  Georgia  Rail- 
road.^ 

Saunders  made  a  brisk  campaign.  "  I  will  not  seek  for 
place  or  power  through  base,  deceitful  ends,"  he  wrote, 
"  or  like  my  rival,  Hamilton,  go  back  upon  my  friends. 

'"Tis  said  one  of  our  senators  [Osborn] 

Was  begged  to  lend  his  voice 

To  ask  a  grant,  for  Florida, 

Of  land  both  rich  and  choice. 

And  this,  my  white  and  colored  friends,  this  was  his  sole  reply : 

'  By  God,  I'll  never  ask  for  it  without  the  chance  to  buy ! ' 

My  friends  your  votes  for  Congress  I  confidently  claim. 

And  in  return  I  pledge  to  you  my  hopes  of  wealth  and  fame; 

That  to  the  interests  of  all,  I  shall  prove  firm  and  true; 

And  any  bill  for  your  relief,  why  boys,  I'll  push  her  through."  • 

Colonel  Saunders's  trade  in  Baltimore  had  been  that  of 
barber,  not  poet.  He  was  not  elected  to  Congress.  The 
regular  Republican,  Hamilton,  was  elected  by  more  than 
2,000  majority.* 

>  Floridian,  Nov.  17,  Dec.  8,  29,  1868 ;  N.  Y.  Herald,  Nov.  18,  1868. 

*  Floridian,  Nov.-Dec,  1868,  passim. 

*  Floridian,  Dec.  8,  1868. 

*  Floridian,  May  11,  1868.  The  vote  in  this  election  was:  Hamilton 
(RepubHcan),  9,749;  Barnes  (Democrat),  6,642;  Saunders  (Indep.  Re- 
pub.),  877.  Hamilton  carried  eleven  out  of  the  thirty-nine  counties  in 
Florida.     Saunders  carried  one  county,  Alachua. 


6i2  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Lack  of  harmony  among  local  Radicals  was  apparent 
in  another  quarter.  Governor  Reed  had  won  his  first  con- 
test with  the  legislature.  He  was  not  impeached  and  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Gleason  was  legally  driven  from  office. 
Yet  when  the  legislature  met  on  January  4th,  1869,  Gleason 
was  still  acting  as  president  of  the  senate,  regardless  of 
the  "  ouster  "  presented  by  the  state  supreme  court  on  De- 
cember I4th.^  However,  both  houses  sought  an  entente 
cordiale  with  the  executive.  The  senate  of  twenty-four 
members  by  a  vote  of  ten  to  one  adopted  resolutions 
amicable  toward  the  governor.^  The  lower  house,  which 
had  striven  to  impeach  the  governor,  adopted  resolutions 
of  confidence  and  elected  a  new  speaker,  M.  L.  Stearns.* 
The  quiet  audacity  of  Stearns,  a  "  military  carpet-bagger  ", 
was  to  put  him  high  in  state  politics.  He  arose  to  thank  his 
electors  and  only  one  arm  was  used  to  punctuate  his  re- 
marks. The  other  sleeve  was  empty.  Stearns  was  a  dis- 
abled veteran  of  the  Union  army.  He  had  met  his  mishap 
in  the  Battle  of  Winchester.  He  had  gone  from  the  army 
to  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  in  Florida  in  1866.  About  thirty 
years  of  age,  shrewd  and  physically  courageous,  he  proved 
to  be  able  to  play  well  the  complicated  game  of  petty  poli- 
tics in  Florida.* 

^  Floridian,  Feb.  2,  1869;  N.  Y.  World,  Jan.  11,  1869;  N.  Y.  Herald, 
Jan.  15,  1869.  An.  Cyclo.,  1869-70.  On  Jan.  10,  1869,  Gleason  vacated 
the  Presidency  of  the  Senate,  having  sent  in  his  resignation.  On  Jan. 
14,  the  Senate  confirmed  the  appointments  made  by  Governor  Reed 
since  his  impeachment.  The  Senate  before  its  adjournment  also  con- 
firmed the  removal  by  Reed  of  Jenkins  as  County  Judge  in  Alachua 
County  "  for  neglect  of  duty  and  for  false  and  libellous  charges  against 
the  Chief  Magistrate." 

»  An.  Cyclo.,  1868-9. 

»  N.  Y.  Herald,  Jan.  9,  1869 ;  ^n.  Cyclo.,  1868-9. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  75-93. 


PARTY  POLITICS  613 

One  Republican  of  this  period  infers  that  the  "  Federal 
office-holders  "  were  still  hostile  to  Governor  Reed  and 
were  willing  to  combine  with  the  Democrats  to  get  rid  of 
him/  The  second  effort  to  impeach  originated  in  January, 
1869,  from  a  motion  to  investigate  the  doings  of  Governor 
Reed  made  by  a  Republican,  Samuel  Walker,  an  old  ally 
of  Liberty  Billings  and  an  old  opponent  of  Reed.  The 
house  refused  to  entertain  his  motion,  but  when  George  P. 
Raney,  a  Democrat,  moved  that  a  committee  be  appointed 
to  inquire  into  the  activities  of  the  chief  executive,  his 
motion  was  passed,  thirty  to  five.* 

The  second  attempt  at  impeachment  had  now  begun. 
Tallahassee  was  at  this  time  the  place  of  rendezvous  for 
numerous  men  who  were  seeking  sundry  favors  of  the 
legislature  and  who  were  willing  to  pay  for  what  they  got. 
The  more  prosperous  of  such  lobbyists  established  them- 
selves at  the  Capitol  hotel.  Champagne,  oyster-suppers,  an 
extra  supply  of  whiskey  and  cigars,  and  well-equipped  car- 
riages were  the  vulgar  physical  evidences  of  these  few  pro- 
moters of  legislation.  Their  presence  helped  to  enliven 
the  town  as  well  as  to  debauch  the  slender  reputations  for 
honesty  of  some  of  the  legislators.*  Incidentally  the  re- 
sources of  the  state  were  being  frittered  away  for  a  mess  of 
poor  pottage. 

The  friends  of  Governor  Reed  stated  stoutly  that  the 
"  lobbyists  "  were  using  money  to  create  an  opinion  in  the 
legislature  for  the  impeachment  of  the  governor.  How- 
ever, it  is  true  that  at  this  time  the  governor  was  on  rather 
good  terms  with  probably  the  most  notorious  and  able  of 
the  extra-legal  makers  of  law  then  in  Florida — Milton  S. 

'  Wallace,  (?/>.  cit.,  pp.  91  and  93. 
*  An.  Cyclo.,  1868-9 ;  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  93-94. 

'Ibid.,  chaps.  7,  8  and  11.    Wallace  was  an  active  Republican  poli- 
tician in  Tallahassee  at  the  time — a  leader  among  the  negroes. 


6i4  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Littlefield.^  Compactly  built,  with  an  almost  hypnotically 
clear  eye,  a  ready  tongue,  an  agile  brain,  a  supply  of  money, 
and  a  lordly  air  which  made  the  more  humble  among  those 
who  smoked  his  cigars  and  drank  his  whiskey  feel  honored 
if  he  deigned  even  to  bribe  them,  this  man,  who  came  into 
Florida  from  Maine,  bent  the  Florida  legislature  to  his  will 
and  managed  to  place  Governor  Reed  in  a  very  compromis- 
ing position.^  Littlefield  was  seeking  state  aid  for  a  certain 
railroad  in  Florida.  The  character  of  this  incident  will  be 
considered  later. 

Before  the  end  of  the  month  of  January,  1869,  rumor 
had  it  that  the  house  committee  of  investigation  had  found 
record  of  impeachable  actions  of  the  governor.  So  dam- 
aging were  the  reports  that  Reed  was  privately  requested 
to  resign.^  With  characteristic  combativeness  he  refused 
to  do  so.  His  friends  in  the  legislature  managed  to  push 
through  a  motion  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to 
investigate  certain  charges  of  bribery  circulated  against 
certain  members  of  the  legislature.  It  is  highly  probable 
that  some  men  there  found  themselves  awkwardly  placed 
for  investigation  by  the  legislature  or  the  courts.  Reed 
probably  had  a  club  over  the  heads  of  some  of  his  enemies.* 

'  See  letter  of  Swepson  to  Reed,  May  31,  1869,  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p. 
119.  Wallace  states  that  it  was  a  forged  document — forged  by  U.  S. 
Senator  Osborn  to  discredit  Reed.  On  its  face  and  coupled  with  the 
success  of  Littlefield  in  dealing  with  the  Grovernor  it  constitutes  a 
damaging  piece  of  evidence  against  Reed. 

^  Floridian,  April  29,  Dec.  16,  1873;  Nov.  9,  Dec.  21,  Dec.  28,  1875. 
Efforts  had  been  made  by  Governor  Holden,  of  N.  C,  to  arrest  Little- 
field and  have  him  sent  to  N.  C,  where  in  Buncombe  County  he  was 
indicted  for  embezzlement.  The  Raleigh  Daily  News,  April  10,  1873, 
stated  that  "  Littlefield  is  a  great  offender  and  together  with  his  con- 
federate Swepson  has  swindled  N.  C.  out  of  several  million  dollars." 

'  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  96. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  95. 


PARTY  POLITICS  615 

On  January  26th,  United  States  Senator  Osbom  ap- 
peared in  the  hall  of  the  house.  He  had  come  from  Wash- 
ington/ On  this  day  the  committee  of  investigation 
brought  in  its  expected  report.  Among  other  things  it 
charged  the  governor  with  having  been  bribed  by  the  pay- 
ment of  $500  for  the  appointment  of  a  clerk  of  Leon 
County  and  of  unlawfully  using  state  funds  to  the  amount 
of  $6,948.  The  report  recommended  the  impeachment  of 
the  executive.  By  a  vote  of  forty-three  to  five  the  house  re- 
fused to  impeach.^ 

The  governor,  a  second  time  triumphant,  summoned  the 
legislature  to  meet  in  special  session  on  June  8th,  in  order 
to  consider  the  proposed  Fifteenth  Amendment  to  the 
United  States  Constitution  and  the  question  of  extending 
aid  to  the  Pensacola,  Jacksonville,  and  Mobile  Railroad.^ 
The  proposed  Fifteenth  Amendment,  which  had  passed  the 
national  Congress  on  February  26th,  was  duly  ratified  by 
the  Florida  legislature — in  the  house,  June  nth,  by  a  vote 
of  twenty-six  to  thirteen;  in  the  senate,  June  i6th,  by  a 
vote  of  thirteen  to  eight.*  The  Conservative  whites  of 
Florida,  as  helpless  for  the  time  as  their  fellow  whites  in 
neighboring  states,  saw  with  sad  disgust  the  national  gov- 
ernment bind  with  one  more  band  the  burden  of  negro  suf- 
frage upon  the  country.  The  black's  participation  in  poli- 
tics had  already  reduced  enormously  the  efficiency  of  gov- 
ernment in  Florida. 

When  on  January  4th,  1870,  the  legislature  convened  in 
regular  session  the  governor  had  become  sufficiently  con- 

1  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  99. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1869-70.    The  vote  was  taken  Jan.  26,  1869. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1869-70. 

*/4n.  Cyclo.,  1869-70.    This  session  of  the  legislature  ended  June  24, 
1869. 


6i6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

vinced  that  bribery  had  been  going  on  to  refer  pointedly 
in  his  message  to  "  conspiracies  formed  to  secure  control 
of  the  financial  policy  of  the  state  in  the  interests  of  cor- 
rupt men."  ^  Some  of  the  legislators  professed  to  think 
as  Governor  Reed  thought,  but  they  considered  him  guilty 
of  collusion  with  the  grafters.  On  January  21st,  1870,  a 
white  Republican  moved  that  a  committee  of  five  be  ap- 
pointed to  investigate  the  doings  of  the  executive.  The 
motion  passed.^  The  senate  voiced  its  hostility  to  Reed  by 
expelling  from  the  senate  the  appointee  of  Reed  to  the  lieu- 
tenant-governorship, Edwin  Weeks.  The  investigating 
committee  of  the  house  brought  in  its  report  on  February 
4th. 

The  governor  was  accused  of  having  been  bribed  to  call 
the  special  session  of  1869;  of  having  received  $7,500  from 
one  George  Swepson,  through  the  hands  of  Littlefield,  for 
the  approval  of  legislation  favorable  to  a  railroad;  and  of 
having  embezzled  various  sums  of  money  belonging  to  the 
state.'  A  minority  report  was  presented  exonerating  the 
governor  and  declaring  that  the  charges  against  him  were 
not  substantiated  and  furthermore  could  not  be  substan- 
tiated. The  house  by  a  vote  of  twenty-seven  to  twenty- 
two  adopted  the  minority  report  and  thus  refused  to  im- 
peach.* This  vote  of  twenty-seven  to  twenty-two  left  a 
narrower  margin  for  Reed  than  had  the  previous  vote  of 
forty-three  to  five.  The  Democratic  members  all  voted  for 
impeachment. 

*  Governor's  Message,  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  114.  *  Ibid.,  p.  116. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  1 18-120.  The  committee  was  composed  of  J.  D. 
Green,  G.  P.  'Raney,  Jno.  Simpson,  H.  H.  Forward,  and  a  Mr.  White. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  120-124;  see  full  report.  The  minority  con- 
sisted of  only  one  man,  White,  of  Clay  Co.  An.  Cycle,  1869-70.  Be- 
fore adopting  Minority  Report  the  House  refused  to  adopt  Majority 
Report  by  a  vote  of  29  to  21. 


PARTY  POLITICS  617 

"  The  effort  to  impeach  Governor  Reed  thus  failed," 
observes  S.  S.  Cox. 

Its  promoters  were  members  of  the  Republican  party.  They 
are  reported  to  have  expressed  the  sentiment,  in  a  caucus  held 
the  next  day  "  to  harmonize  Republicans  and  concentrate  Re- 
publican effort,  that  they  had  been  fairly  and  thoroughly 
whipped  " ;  that  "  they  accepted  the  result  as  a  finality  and 
as  directory  of  the  wishes  of  their  party  " ;  that  "  they  had 
misunderstood  the  wishes  of  the  party " ;  and  they  pledged 
themselves  to  sustain  Mr.  Reed's  administration.  If  this  re- 
port can  be  relied  upon,  these  penitent  impeachers  are  as  base 
as  the  men  whom  they  charge  with  having  embezzled  the 
public  money. ^ 

Probably  the  significance  of  these  impeachment  episodes, 
which  like  the  seasons  seemed  to  recur  with  some  regularity, 
was  the  serious  dissension  which  was  exhibited  within  Re- 
publican ranks.  This  failure  to  agree  was  evident  not  only 
between  governor  and  legislature.  It  manifested  itself  in 
the  relationship  between  governor  and  cabinet  and  between 
the  legislature  and  certain  of  the  state  judiciary.  For  in- 
stance, Judge  Magbee,  of  the  fourth  circuit,  was  impeached 
on  a  charge  of  petty  theft  and  "  vindictive  and  arbitrary  " 
use  of  his  judicial  power  in  selecting  juries.^  The  differ- 
ences between  Governor  Reed  and  his  comptroller.  Major 
Robert  Gamble,  became  so  acute  that  Gamble  finally  threat- 
ened to  resign.^    Several  of  the  Republican  members  of  the 

*  Cox,  Three  Decades  of  Federal  Legislation,  p.  521. 

'  An.  Cyclo.,  1869-70.  The  vote  on  impeachment  was  taken  February 
18.  It  stood  24  to  3.  The  senate  resolved  to  sit  as  a  court  of  impeach- 
ment at  its  next  regular  session  for  a  trial  of  the  case. 

•  House  Journal,  June  21,  1869.  The  legislature  put  the  control  of 
certain  state  bonds  in  Gamble's  hands,  and  not  in  the  Governor's,  as 
formerly.  The  quarrel  over  the  sale  of  these  bonds  was  one  reason 
for  disagreement.    See  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  126. 


6i8  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

cabinet  did  likewise.  The  state  legislature  voiced  the  situ- 
ation in  resolutions.  "  We  have  been  painfully  convinced," 
ran  the  house  resolutions,  "  of  the  want  of  that  agreement 
and  co-operation  between  governor  and  cabinet  which 
should  prevail  ".^  On  February  5th,  the  day  after  the 
failure  to  impeach,  occurred  the  Republican  caucus  in 
Tallahassee  to  "  harmonize  "  the  party.  It  was  here  pro- 
posed that  the  governor's  cabinet  or  the  governor  resign. 
Nor  did  passing  months  bring  peace.  A  Radical  convention 
met  in  Tallahassee  on  October  27th  following,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  "  better  organizing  the  Republican  party  ".  It 
passed  resolutions  deeply  deploring  *'  the  alienation  and 
division  in  Republican  ranks  in  this  state  ".^ 

The  Radical  party  was  in  a  precarious  condition  when 
the  campaign  of  1870  opened  for  the  election  of  a  lieuten- 
ant-governor, a  congressman,  and  a  new  legislature.  This 
election  was  to  prove  the  turning-point  in  the  career  of  the 
Republican  party  in  Florida,  and  foretold  in  a  fashion  what 
was  to  happen  six  years  later. 

The  Republican  state  convention  assembled  in  Gaines- 
ville on  August  17th,  1870.  A  sharp  contest  began  between 
negro  and  carpet-bag  leaders  for  control.^  Samuel  T.  Day, 
a  carpet-bagger,  was  nominated  for  lieutenant-governor; 
and  Charles  M.  Hamilton,  carpet-bagger  and  ex-Freed- 
men's  Bureau  agent,  was  put  forward  by  the  whites  as  a  can- 

^  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  126,  resolutions.  According  to  the  Const.,  art.  6, 
the  Governor's  cabinet  consisted  of  the  Sect,  of  State,  Atty.-Gen., 
Comptr.,  Treas.,  Surveyor-Gen.,  Supt.  Pub.  Instr.,  Adj. -Gen.,  and  Com- 
mis.  of  Immigration,  all  appointed  by  the  Governor. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1869-70.  The  action  of  this  "  convention  "  probably  had 
some  effect.  On  Nov.  28,  the  Republican  state  executive  committee  met 
in  Tallahassee  to  more  completely  organize  the  Republican  party.  A 
circular  was  issued  by  the  committee  calling  county  mass-meetings. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1869-70;  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  126-127. 


PARTY  POLITICS  619 

didate  for  re-election  to  Congress.  The  blacks  opposed 
Hamilton  and,  hanging  together,  forced  the  nomination  of 
Josiah  T.  Walls,  one  of  their  own  color.  The  scalawag  or 
native  white  element  in  this  meeting  seems  to  have  played 
a  passive  part.  Walls's  career  was  to  prove  a  troubled  one. 
He  was  three  times  to  enter  the  national  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives and  twice  to  be  unseated.^  The  nomination  of 
Walls  was  a  distinct  concession  forced  from  the  whites  by 
the  blacks.  Negro  leaders  from  practical  experience  in 
politics  were  gaining  in  aggressiveness  and  independence. 
This  phenomenon  accompanied  the  decline  of  Republican 
power.  As  the  government  became  Africanized  it  became 
weaker. 

On  August  31st,  the  Democrats  assembled  in  convention 
in  Tallahassee  as  "  The  Reform  Conservative  Party  of 
Florida  ".^  This  name  was  assumed  to  accommodate  those 
Republicans  who  might  be  willing  to  drive  the  controlling 
party  from  local  power,  but  who  did  not  care  to  enlist  defi- 
nitely in  Democratic  ranks  even  to  accomplish  this.  The 
rising  tax-rate  and  the  stories  of  disreputable  proceedings 
in  Tallahassee,  together  with  the  sentiment  for  reform 
from  abroad,  made  some  of  the  property-holding  Republi- 
cans not  unwilling  to  support  political  reform.^ 

William  D.  Bloxham,  a  Floridian  and  veteran  of  the  Con- 
federate army,  was  nominated  for  lieutenant-governor,  and 
Silas  Niblack,  a  one-time  "  Union  man ",   for  Congress. 

*  The  first  time,  Jan.  29,  1873 ;  the  second  time,  April  19,  1876.  See 
cases  of  Niblack  vs.  Walls  and  Finly  vs.  Walls,  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  4Sth 
C,  2nd  S.,  No.  52,  pp.  loi,  etc.,  and  367,  etc. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1869-70. 

'  The  Taxpayers'  Convention  which  convened  in  the  summer  of  1871, 
several  months  after  the  election,  indicated  that  some  prominent  Re- 
publicans were  dissatisfied  with  the  party's  record.  See  testimony  of 
Republicans  in  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  208,  214,  215. 
219,  244,  24s,  etc. 


620  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  platforms  of  the  two  parties  were  substantially  the 
same  on  most  points.  Both  favored  state  aid  to  internal 
improvement.  Both  endorsed  the  establishment  of  a  good 
system  of  public  schools.  The  Republicans  were  in  favor 
of  "  retrenchment  and  honesty  in  government ".  The 
Democrats  wished  "  an  honest  and  economic  state  govern- 
ment ". 

The  political  contest  rapidly  took  shape.  Through  the 
mists  of  the  years  it  looms  up  to-day  as  a  crucial  bit  of 
Florida's  political  history.  With  the  election  machinery 
completely  in  the  hands  of  the  Republican  party ;  with  post- 
masters, mail  agents,  county  officials,  and  most  Federal 
court  officers  attached  to  the  same  organization ;  with  very 
little  money  to  spend;  and  with  a  party  at  his  back  badly 
beaten  three  times  in  two  years,  Bloxham  began  to  "  swing 
round  the  circle  ".^  He  was  an  aristocratic  young  planter 
who  had  served  in  the  Confederate  army.  He  was  opti- 
mistic, aggressive,  active,  and  effective  as  an  orator — of 
medium  height  and  erect  carriage ;  with  a  high,  broad  fore- 
head and  small,  bright  eyes  and  thin,  compressed  lips.  He 
was  a  thoroughly  likable  man.  When  the  war  ceased  he 
established  a  school  on  his  plantation,  where  his  one-time 
slaves  might  acquire  that  new  learning  which  the  blacks 
sought  so  diligently  for  the  first  few  months  of  the  new 
regime.  The  negro  teacher  of  this  school  afterwards  be- 
came a  prominent  Radical  politician  and  the  first  historian 
of  the  Reconstruction  period  in  Florida. 

The  Democratic  leader  began  the  campaign  aggressively. 
He  was  not  seeking  so  much  to  answer  questions  as  he  was 
to  ask  them.  The  theme  of  his  many  speeches  was  Repub- 
lican mismanagement  of  state  affairs,  bribery,  electoral  cor- 
ruption and  the  semi-anarchy  which  existed  in  some  locali- 

'  See  reference  to  campaign  in  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  127. 


PARTY  POLITICS  62 1 

ties  because  of  the  conflict  between  the  races.  The  mount- 
ing tax-rate,  the  accusations  which  the  Republican  legisla- 
ture had  brought  against  the  Republican  governor,  the 
open  references  of  the  governor  to  legislative  corruption,  the 
actual  record  of  reckless  law-making  at  Tallahassee, — all 
served  Bloxham  and  his  lieutenants  with  telling  and  very 
definite  illustrations.  This  political  campaign  for  peace, 
public  decency  and  economy  was  carried  into  every  county 
of  Florida,  Bloxham  personally  visiting  almost  every 
county  in  the  state.  Some  people  were  affected,  probably, 
by  reasonable  exhortations,  but  the  mass  of  Republican 
voters  were  impervious  to  such  methods.  However,  the 
work  of  Democratic  clubs  and  Conservative  regulators 
both  in  organizing  the  Conservative  vote  and  in  ruthlessly 
suppressing  the  negroes  with  halter,  shot-gun  and  whip, 
conspired  to  gather  strength  unto  the  Democratic  cause. 
The  Republican  party  was  active,  but  factional  fighting 
continued.^ 

On  November  8th,  1870,  occurred  the  election.  The 
whites  in  many  localities  deliberately  prepared  to  deter  by 
force  the  negroes  from  voting.  The  negroes,  on  the  other 
hand,  in  some  parts  of  the  state,  came  to  the  polls  in  an 
unpleasantly  bellicose  attitude,  prepared,  according  to  the 
words  of  one  of  their  own  color,  to  continue  "  the  war 
with  the  ballot  and  with  the  tongue  ".^  Inevitably  this 
led  to  the  disgraceful  continuation  of  the  war  with  halter 
and  shotgun.  When  distances  were  great,  crowds  of  ne- 
groes under  leaders  came  to  the  polling  places  a  day  in  ad- 
vance and  camped  out  like  soldiers  on  the  march.  In  Co- 
lumbia, Jefferson,  Gadsden,  and  Jackson  Counties  violence 
played  a  more  or  less  important  part  in  the  election. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  128-131 ;  An.  Cyclo.,  1869-70. 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  103,  words  of  Robert 
Meacham. 


622  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

"  We  had  quite  a  sharp  political  canvass,  and  there  was 
a  great  deal  of  bitter  feeling  one  way  or  the  other,"  said  a 
white  Republican  candidate  of  Columbia  County.  On  the 
night  before  the  election,  the  blacks  formed  in  procession 
and  boisterously  marched  through  the  streets  of  Lake  City. 
A  collision  was  provoked  with  the  whites,  who  "  ran  off 
quite  a  number  of  the  colored  men  ".  The  candidate  in 
question  continued :  "  When  I  made  my  appearance  in  the 
public  square  the  next  morning  I  was  surrounded  by  almost 
lOO  men,  mostly  armed  with  pistols;  I  saw  but  few  guns. 
They  claimed  that  I  was  the  cause  of  the  riot  that  was  got 
up  the  night  preceding,  and  they  threatened  me  and  said 
that  I  had  better  go  into  my  house  and  stay  there."  The 
result  of  the  election  in  this  county,  which  had  previously 
gone  Republican,  was  a  slight  majority  for  the  Democrats. 

At  Monticello  in  Jefferson  County  the  negroes  attempted 
to  "  crowd  in "  upon  one  of  the  three  polling  places. 
"  Angry  words  ensued,  and  in  about  ten  minutes,"  testified 
a  negro  participant, 

the  voting  places  were  closed  on  account  of  the  excitement. 
Then  you  could  see  any  number  of  white  men  coming  up  with 
arms.  I  suppose  in  about  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  there  were 
about  i,ooo  colored  men  on  the  ground  with  arms,  but  not  near 
so  many  whites.  I  suppose  there  were  nearly  i,ooo  shots  fired 
off  in  the  air,  but  no  one  was  hurt.  When  the  voting  was 
over  and  the  polls  were  closed,  about  500  people  went  home 
that  night  without  having  had  a  chance  to  vote.^ 

At  Quincy,  in  Gadsden  County,  a  riot  was  narrowly 
averted.  "  There  was  considerable  disturbance  at  the  pre- 
cinct in  Quincy,"  said  M.  L.  Stearns  a  year  later.  "  On  the 
morning  of  the  election,  before  daylight,  several  persons 
came  to  my  house  and  said  that  the  Democrats  were  coming 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  103. 


PARTY  POLITICS  623 

into  town  anned.  I  got  up,  dressed  myself,  and  went  down 
town  and  found  that  quite  a  large  number  had  come  there 
with  arms  and  had  deposited  them  in  different  stores  around 
the  court-house  square."  Late  in  the  afternoon  the  negroes 
attempted  to  crowd  in  on  a  polling  place  reserved  for 
whites.  The  sheriff  attempted  to  clear  the  polls.  "  Some 
one  struck  him  over  the  head  with  a  cane,"  stated  Steams. 

Then  a  general  row  began.  I  must  say  that  it  is  almost  a 
mystery  to  me  how  it  was  stopped  without  bloodshed.  It  was 
a  fearful  sight.  The  tumult  lasted  two  hours.  The  result  was 
that  about  two  or  three  hundred  were  standing  in  line  with 
tickets  in  their  hands  when  the  polls  closed,  and  our  Repub- 
lican majority  in  that  county  was  reduced  from  400  to  16.^ 

In  Jackson  County  several  personal  collisions  occurred 
at  the  polls,  harsh  language  was  used,  and  it  was  claimed 
that  a  few  Radical  voters  were  frightened  away.^  In  Duval 
County,  the  ballot-box  of  the  Yellow  Bluff  precinct  was  un- 
lawfully seized  by  Republicans,  the  returns  altered  in  their 
favor  and  the  result  sent  in  to  headquarters.  Thus  amid 
rough  practice  and  an  exhibition  of  brute  force  did  the 
elections  of  1870  pass. 

The  first  announced  results  were  a  surprise.  The  Demo- 
cratic journals  claimed  confidently  a  victory  for  the  Con- 
servative party.  Most  of  the  new  state  senators  and  an 
increased  proportion  of  the  house  were  Democratic.  The 
final  pronouncement  on  the  vote  for  lieutenant-governor 
and  congressmen  lay  with  the  state  canvassing  board  at 
Tallahassee.  This  board  was  composed  of  three  of  the 
cabinet  of  the  governor:  namely,  the  secretary  of  state, 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  76,  236. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  52,  p.  106,  case  of  Niblack  vs. 
Walls. 


624  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

the  attorney-general,  and  the  comptroller.^  Was  the  de- 
cline in  Republican  power  to  evidence  itself  by  defeat  in  a 
general  election?  The  question  was  clear  and  the  issue 
one  of  more  than  ordinary  interest  to  the  people  of  Flor- 
ida. The  decision  in  a  close  and  troubled  election  lay  with 
a  Republican  board. ^ 

The  election  occurred  on  the  8th  of  November.  By  law 
the  board  was  to  meet  in  Tallahassee  to  canvass  the  votes 
on  the  29th  of  November. '  It  has  been  stated  by  a  Repub- 
lican politician,  active  at  the  time,  that  his  party  leaders — 
probably  meaning  Purman,  Conant,  Stearns,  Dennis,  Mob- 
ley,  Billings,  and  Gleason — hearing  the  news  of  how  the 
election  had  resulted,  promptly  sent  into  the  Democratic 
counties  messengers  to  instruct  the  local  election  officers, 
who  were  Republicans,  to  keep  the  ballot-boxes  until  after 
the  canvassing  board  had  met  in  Tallahassee  and  ad- 
journed.* If  this  be  true,  it  is  not  improbable  that  these 
same  officers  were  instructed  to  alter  the  returns  if  possible, 
or  to  render  them  sufficiently  irregular  in  character  to  give 
the  canvassing  board  a  technical  legal  basis  for  throwing 
them  out.  But  this  is  a  supposition.  How  well  these  sup- 
posed instructions  might  have  been  followed,  events  were 
soon  to  suggest. 

Two  of  the  three  members  of  the  state  canvassing  board 
were  Republicans.  The  third  member  was  Robert  Gamble, 
the  comptroller,  a  native  Southerner  and  veteran  of  the 
Confederate  army.  Gamble  and  his  political  friends  sur- 
mised sadly  what  would  probably  happen  when  the  door 

*  Fla.  Rpts.,  V.  13,  p.  56,  State  ex  rel.  Bloxham  vs.  Bd.  State  Can- 
vassers. See  letter  of  iR.  B.  Hilton  to  Geo.  Couch,  Oct.  12,  1876,  Wal- 
lace, op.  cit.,  p.  437. 

'  Wallace,  ibid.,  p.  437, — Hilton's  letter,  Oct.  12,  1876. 

'  Fla.  Rpts.,  V.  13,  State  ex  rel.  Bloxham  vs.  State  Board  Canvassers. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  133-134. 


PARTY  POLITICS  625 

of  the  secretary  of  state's  office  closed  on  the  canvassing 
board  on  November  29th.  Gamble  would  be  out-voted  by 
the  other  two  members  on  every  doubtful  question.  He  had 
reason  to  believe  that  neither  of  his  two  associates  had 
serious  compunctions  about  receiving  forged  election  re- 
turns if  they  were  forged  to  favor  their  side. 

With  Charles  E.  Dyke,  editor  of  the  Floridian,  Gamble 
prepared  to  hold  up  the  action  of  the  board.  Dyke  was  a 
crafty,  canny  politician.  As  a  political  leader  and  a  maker 
of  public  opinion  he  had  seen  Florida  pass  through  the 
turmoil  of  secession,  the  tragedy  of  war,  and  into  the  dis- 
graceful intrigues  of  Reconstruction.  With  each  change 
Dyke,  a  Southerner,  had  been  on  the  losing  side.  Yet  he 
managed  somehow  to  keep  his  optimistic  suppleness  of 
mind  through  it  all. 

On  November  29th,  the  door  closed  on  the  Canvassing 
Board  in  session.^  Outside  "  at  the  key-hole  "  was  Dyke. 
Inside  the  three  cabinet  members — two  white  men  and  a 
negro — watching  each  other  narrowly,  settled  down  to  the 
preliminary  work  of  counting  the  electoral  returns  for  lieu- 
tenant-governor and  congressmen.  Nine  counties,  con- 
sidered Democratic,  had  not  been  heard  from.  Attorney- 
General  Meek  and  the  negro  secretary,  Gibbs,  decided  to 
proceed  with  the  count  on  the  next  day  without  these  re- 
turns.^ Gamble  hurriedly  wrote  a  note  to  this  effect,  and 
slipped  it,  unseen  by  his  associates  inside,  beneath  the  door 
to  Dyke  outside.' 

*  Fla.  Rpts.,  V.  13,  State  ex  rel.  Bloxham  vs.  Bd.  State  Canvassers, 
p.  58. 

'Ibid.,  p.  58. 

•  Wallace,  op.  cU.,  pp.  135-136.  This  account  by  Wallace  seems  to  be 
the  only  authority  for  the  key-hole  incident  of  Dyke  and  Gamble.  Ex- 
Governor  Bloxham  told  me  that  he  aided  Wallace  in  the  compilation 
of  his  work.  He  knew  intimately  both  Dyke  and  Gamble  and  it  is 
probable  that  he  suggested  including  the  incident  in  the  account. 


626  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

One  reasonable  course  of  action  for  Democrats  was 
open:  namely,  an  appeal  to  the  courts  for  an  injunction  to 
restrain  the  board  from  proceeding  with  the  count.  Dyke 
set  out  at  once  to  obtain  this  legal  aid.  The  nearest  circuit 
judge  was  P.  W.  White,  in  Quincy,  thirty  miles  away. 
Evidently  Judge  White  had  been  warned  by  Dyke  and 
Gamble  of  what  would  happen.  It  was  afternoon  when 
Gamble  slipped  the  note  under  the  door.  The  judge  was 
reached  before  morning  and  the  injunction  procured.  The 
next  day,  November  30th,  it  was  served  on  the  canvassing 
board. ^  They  were  forbidden  by  the  court  to  proceed 
with  the  count  until  all  the  returns  were  in.  The  board, 
respecting  the  court's  orders,  adjourned  until  the  26th  of 
December. 

The  Radical  outlook  for  the  moment  was  distinctly 
gloomy.  The  tactics  of  .Gamble  and  Dyke  had  proven  suc- 
cessful in  checking  the  board,  but  their  opponents  pro- 
ceeded to  dissolve  the  injunction — and  their  methods  were 
novel.  The  Republican  machine  fairly  controlled  the  Fed- 
eral judiciary  in  Florida.  Republican  leaders  quickly  de- 
termined to  have  recourse  to  this  arm  of  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment to  crush  the  state's  injunction  issued  by  Judge 
White.  "  Party  leaders,  bold  and  unscrupulous  in  their  re- 
sources to  prevent  a  breach  in  their  official  stronghold," 
states  Mr.  Rerick,  "  perpetrated  the  outrage  of  procuring 
the  arrest  of  Judge  White  by  process  of  the  Federal  Court 
upon  the  charge  of  violating  the  Federal  election  laws."  ^ 
The  statute  supposed  to  have  been  violated  by  the  injunc- 
tion was  the  Federal  Enforcement  Act  of  May  31st,  1870. 
Under  the  humiliating  escort  of  a  United  States  deputy 
marshal  the  judge  was  carried  to  Jacksonville,     The  Re- 

*  FJa.  Rpts.,  V.  13,  State  ex  rel.  Bloxham  vs.  Bd.  State  Canvassers, 
P-  59. 

*  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Florida,  v.  i,  p.  320. 


PARTY  POLITICS  627 

publican  majority  of  the  state  canvassing  board  now  con- 
sidered the  injunction  dissolved,  and  forthwith  proceeded 
"  in  contempt  of  the  injunction  ",  said  Conservatives,  to 
count  votes.  The  place  of  Attorney-General  Meek  on  the 
board  had  been  taken  by  Sherman  Conant,  a  carpet-bag 
Federal  deputy  marshal.  Conant  and  the  negro  Gibbs, 
needing  privacy  to  carry  their  point,  "  withdrew  from 
Gamble  (the  Conservative)  and  behind  the  doors  of  the 
secretary  of  state's  office,"  made  the  canvass.^  They  de- 
clared Day  and  Walls  elected  respectively  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor and  congressman — each  by  a  majority  of  a  little  more 
than  600.^ 

The  returns  from  the  nine  Democratic  counties  in  ques- 
tion were  not  counted.'  The  board  succeeded  therefore  in 
its  "  purpose  of  counting  in  the  Republican  candidates," 
concludes  Mr.  Rerick.  "  Thereupon  the  prosecution  of 
Judge  White  was  abandoned."  *  Judged  by  the  later  find- 
ings of  the  state  supreme  court,  and  of  a  committee  of  the 
national  House  of  Representatives,  the  decision  of  the 
canvassing  board  was  in  defiance  of  honesty  and  law.  The 
arrest  of  Judge  White  was  a  weird  travesty  of  justice. 

^  Fla.  Rpts.,  V.  13,  State  ex  rel.  Bloxham  vs.  Bd.  State  Canvassers, 
PP-  59-61.  Wallace,  Carpet-hag  Rule,  p.  440,  letter  of  R.  B,  Hilton  to 
Geo.  Couch,  Oct.  12,  1876. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1869-70.  Fla.  Rpts.,  v.  13,  State  ex  rel.  Bloxham  vs. 
Bd.  State  Canvassers.  According  to  this  decision  of  the  Board  the 
votes  were:  for  lieut.-governor,  Republican  12,446,  Democratic  11,832; 
for  Congress,  Republican  12,439,  Democratic  11,810.  See  Wallace,  op. 
cit.,  p.  138. 

*  Refused  to  count  votes  from  Brevard,  Columbia,  Dade,  Lafayette, 
Manatee,  Monroe,  Sumter,  Suwanee,  and  Taylor  counties.  Gamble 
refused  to  sign  the  electoral  certificate  of  the  board,  claiming  that  it 
was  obtained  by  fraud. 

*  Rerick,  op.  cit.,  v.  i,  p.  320;  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  136.  I  personally 
discussed  this  incident  in  1907  with  Judge  White  who  issued  the  in- 
junction. He  was  judge  of  the  2nd  Circuit.  Judge  White  was  kept 
under  bond  until  the  "  fraudulent  count "  had  been  perpetrated. 


628  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Bloxham,  the  defeated  Democratic  candidate,  called  upon 
the  state  courts  for  help.  Through  attorneys  he  applied 
to  the  supreme  court  for  a  writ  of  mandamus  to  compel  the 
board  to  make  a  recount  of  the  votes.  He  presented  an 
elaborate  and  strong  case.  He  claimed  that  in  the  nine 
counties  whose  votes  were  thrown  out  1,630  Democratic 
votes  were  cast  and  952  Republican,  giving  him,  Bloxham, 
a  majority  of  678.  The  total  vote  of  the  state  for  Blox- 
ham, including  these  counties,  would  be  13,462;  for  Day, 
Republican,  13,398 — a  Democratic  majority  of  64.^  The 
Democratic  estimate  of  the  votes  for  congressmen  was  137 
majority  for  Niblack,  Democrat. 

The  supreme  court  found  a  technical  defect  in  Blox- 
ham's  petition,  and  this  necessitated  three  or  four  days' 
delay  before  resuming  the  case.^  The  Democratic  case  was 
well  presented  and  the  court  was  an  honest  one.  The  Re- 
publican outlook  was  again  clouded.  But  during  this  in- 
terval of  three  or  four  days'  delay  the  legislature  inter- 
vened. A  bill  was  quietly  hurried  through  abolishing  the 
state  canvassing  board.'  This  was  indeed  sharp  practice, 
but  it  enacted  law,  and  the  supreme  court  threw  the  case 
out  because  no  action  could  be  continued  against  a  can- 
vassing board  which  did  not  exist.*     Day  became  lieuten- 

*  Fla.  Rpts.,  V.  13,  State  of  Fla.  ex  rel.  Bloxham  vs.  Bd.  State  Can- 
vassers. H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  300.  Judge  Sam.  J. 
Douglas  was  one  of  the  two  attorneys  representing  Bloxham.  He 
said  of  the  Canvassing  Board :  "  They  refused  those  nine  counties  on 
two  grounds ;  one  was  that  some  of  the  returns  were  informal,  another 
was  that  the  returns  had  not  been  received  in  time.  I  was  employed, 
together  with  other  counsel,  to  apply  for  a  mandamus  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State,  to  compel  the  Board  of  Canvassers  to  canvass 
those  counties." 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  438— Hilton's  letter. 

'  Fla.  Rpts.,  v.  13,  p.  76 ;  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  438 ;  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C, 
2nd  S.,  No.  22,  v.  13,  p.  300. 

*  Fla.  Rpts.,  v.  13,  p.  77. 


PARTY  POLITICS  629 

ant-governor  and  Walls  went  to  Congress.  The  Democrats 
were  beaten. 

The  state  senate  and  house,  constitutionally  exercising 
the  power  of  judgment  on  the  electoral  credentials  of  those 
seeking  admission  to  them,  refused  to  admit  the  senators 
and  representatives  from  the  irregular  counties  in  ques- 
tion. These  counties,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  gone 
Democratic.  In  the  new  senate  were  eleven  Republicans 
and  ten  Democrats ;  in  the  house,  twenty-three  Republicans 
and  twenty  Democrats.^ 

The  election  of  1870  clearly  marks  the  beginning  of  Re- 
publican decline  in  Florida.  Most  elections  at  the  polls 
had  been  carried  by  the  Democrats.  To  accomplish 
their  purpose  they  had  resorted  in  some  places  to  violence 
or  an  exhibition  of  violent  intent  to  deter  Republican  voters, 
who  were  mostly  negroes.  But  Republicans  had  been  belli- 
cose. Crowds  of  negroes  had  come  to  the  polls  armed,  had 
paraded  the  streets  of  towns,  and  had  dared  opposition  by 
the  whites.  A  heavy  vote  was  cast — more  than  2,000  in 
advance  of  the  state  vote  in  1868  and  about  10,000  in  ad- 
vance of  the  congressional  vote  of  1869.  The  Republican 
vote  was  about  1,000  less  than  in  1868,  while  the  Demo- 
cratic vote  had  advanced  about  6,000.  The  party  in  power, 
by  skillful  and  unscrupulous  use  of  the  election  officials,  the 
courts,  the  canvassing  board,  and  the  legislature  had  man- 
aged to  keep  its  grip  on  things. 

This  was  by  no  means  the  end  of  the  dreary  and  hope- 
less muddle  into  which  public  affairs  in  Florida  had  fallen. 
Bloxham  continued  his  efforts  before  the  supreme  court  to 
obtain  the  position  of  lieutenant-governor,  and — strange 
impasse  within  a  party! — Lieutenant-Governor  Weeks, 
holding  his  commission  from  Reed,  refused  to  quit  his 
place   for   the   new   lieutenant-governor-elect.    Day.      The 

^  An.  Cyclo.,  1869-70. 


630 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


senate  recognized  Day.  It  had  expelled  Weeks/  The 
supreme  court,  however,  pronounced  Weeks's  position  as 
president  pro  tern  of  the  senate  valid.^  Rumors  were  al- 
ready afloat  of  another  impeachment  contest  with  the  gov- 
ernor. Here  we  have  an  insight  into  the  depth  of  the  in- 
tricate discord  among  Republicans.  Negroes,  carpet-bag- 
gers, and  scalawags  could  not  agree.  Lines  of  sectional  and 
race  prejudice  cut  deeper  than  some  men  had  estimated.  If 
Radicals  could  have  worked  in  harmony  the  South  would 
have  been  longer  under  Republican  rule. 

The  result  of  the  election  of  1870  indicated  how  narrow 
was  the  margin  of  votes  by  which  the  Republicans  controlled 
Florida.  Conservative  and  Radical  power  in  the  legislature 
was  approaching  a  balance.  Realization  of  the  absolute 
need  of  harmony  and  party  discipline  affords  a  partial  ex- 
planation of  the  demands  made  upon  Governor  Reed  early 
in  1872.  He  was  repeatedly  asked  to  reform  his  cabinet  and 
certain  important  groups  of  county  officials  in  conformity 
with  the  desires  of  various  party  leaders.  Under  Florida's 
constitution  the  governor  appointed  all  county  officials  ex- 
cept constables.  Senator  Osborn  demanded  changes.  L.  G. 
Dennis,  boss  of  Alachua  County,  who  during  the  troubled 
years  to  come  was  to  appear  prominently,  asked  for  the 
removal  of  officials  in  his  county  and  the  appointment  of 
others  at  his  dictation.  W.  J.  Purman  made  the  same  re- 
quest for  Jackson  County.^  None  of  these  three  men  was 
friendly  with  Governor  Reed,  and  Reed  was  not  pliant  to 

^  An.  Cyclo.,  1869-70.  A  motion  was  first  offered  in  the  Senate  that 
the  "  Sergeant-at-arms  be  instructed  to  arrest  Mr.  E.  C.  Weeks  and 
keep  him  under  arrest  till  released  by  the  Senate."  Two  negro  sena- 
tors remonstrated  against  this  as  "  indecent,"  and  a  substitute,  more 
mild,  was  adopted. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  118. 

'  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  141-142. 


PARTY  POLITICS  63 1 

their  wishes.  He  considered  himself  the  party  leader.  He 
was  certainly  the  head  of  a  strong  faction.  Neither  the 
governor  nor  his  enemies  seemed  willing  to  make  a  com- 
promise. Thus  any  attempts  at  harmonious  reformation 
but  led  toward  a  repetition  of  increased  discord  and  more 
efforts  to  get  rid  of  Reed.  Soon  after  the  legislature  met 
in  January,  1872,  the  impeachment  farce  began  again.  ^ 

The  Democratic  members  of  the  legislature  willingly 
joined  with  the  Republicans  in  the  assault  on  the  executive. 
The  proceedings  of  the  impeachers  by  this  time  are  so 
"  darkly  hidden  "  that  melodrama  is  suggested.  Resolu- 
tions of  impeachment  were  hurried  through  at  one  night 
session  after  the  sergeant-at-arms  had  been  sent  out  into 
the  town  and  had  forcibly  brought  in  some  absent  mem- 
bers.^ The  next  day  Reed  was  informed  of  what  had 
happened,  and  on  February  loth,  the  house  formally  pre- 
sented to  the  senate  resolutions  of  impeachment.* 

The  charges  against  Reed  were  contained  in  sixteen 
formal  articles.  The  substance  of  these  articles  was  about 
as  follows:  that  the  governor  had,  without  authority  of 
law,  issued  various  amounts  of  state  bonds — $528,000  on 
one  occasion,  $1,000,000  on  another;  that  he  had  put  his 
signature  to  a  bill  for  the  issue  of  $4,000,000  of  bonds  to 
a  railroad,  knowing  the  fraudulent  character  of  the  trans- 
action ;  that  he  had  embezzled  various  sums  from  the  state ; 
that  he  had  been  bribed  to  favor  the  passage  of  certain 
legislation ;  and  that  he  had  sought  on  one  occasion  to  cor- 
ruptly influence  a  justice.*  These  charges  were  specific 
and  definite  enough,  but  the  trial  did  not  develop  any  sub- 
stantial proof  of  the  allegations. 

^An.  Cyclo.,  1872-73. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  142-143. 
'An.  Cyclo.,  1872-73. 

*  Formal  articles,  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  160-171. 


632  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

That  the  governor  had  been  careless  in  handling  state 
funds;  that  he  had  favored  state  aid  to  enterprises  which 
were  found  to  be  dominated  by  scoundrels ;  and  that  he  was 
very  friendly  with  some  of  these  scoundrels;  this  is  about 
as  far  as  closely  substantiated  judgment  can  go.  "  The 
most  singular  aspect  of  this  whole  impeachment  scheme," 
says  a  defender  of  the  governor,  "  was  that  while  the  in- 
vestigating committee  could  find  sufficient  witnesses  in 
Florida  upon  whose  evidence  to  base  thirteen  articles  of 
impeachment,  the  board  of  managers  could  not  find  wit- 
nesses in  the  state  to  prove  one  of  these  charges."  ^ 

The  senate  convened  as  a  high  court  for  the  trial  of  the 
accused  executive  on  February  loth.  Governor  Reed  re- 
quested that  the  trial  proceed,  but  the  impeachment  man- 
agers refrained  from  pressing  their  case  and  the  high  court 
and  the  legislature  adjourned  sine  die.^  What  was  the 
object  of  this  strange  procedure?  The  case  had  not  been 
dismissed.  No  judgment  had  been  pronounced.  The  state 
constitution  contained  the  explicit  provision  that  "  any  offi- 
cer when  impeached  by  the  assembly  shall  be  deemed  under 
arrest  and  shall  be  disqualified  from  performing  any  duties 
of  his  office  until  acquittal  by  the  Senate."  ' 

The  impeachment  of  Governor  Reed,  therefore,  by  the 
house,  legally  suspended  him  from  office.  But  why  did  the 
the  senate  and  the  managers  put  off  indefinitely  his  trial? 
If  we  believe  that  those  who  impeached  him,  and  a  ma- 
jority of  those  who  would  try  him,  wished  to  get  rid  of 
him,  only  one  reasonable  conclusion  concerning  the  senate's 
adjournment  sine  die  remains.  The  senate  mistrusted  its 
ability  to  convict  the  governor  without  doing  great  injury 

'  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  171. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  177-180. 

8  Const,  of  1868  in  H.  Docs.,  59th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  357,  v.  2. 


PARTY  POLITICS  633 

to  itself  and  believed  that  his  suspension  from  office  because 
of  his  impeachment  could  be  extended  to  the  fast  approach- 
ing end  of  his  term  as  governor.  Thus  Reed  might  be  dis- 
posed of  w^ithout  being  expelled.  But  who  was  now  gov- 
ernor of  Florida?  The  state  constitution  provided  that  "  in 
case  of  the  impeachment  of  the  governor  or  his  removal 
from  office,  death,  inability  to  discharge  his  duties,  or 
resignation,  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  office  shall  devolve 
upon  the  lieutenant-governor  for  the  residue  of  the  term  or 
until  the  disability  shall  cease."  ^  Lieutenant-Governor 
Day,  who  was  president  pro  tern  of  the  senate,  was  strongly 
identified  with  the  faction  of  the  local  Republican  party 
opposed  to  Reed.  With  Reed  impeached  and  therefore 
suspended,  Day  became  ipso  facto  acting  governor. 

Another  factor  entered  into  the  situation.  The  state 
supreme  court  was  believed  at  the  time  to  be  about  to  render 
a  decision  which  would  give  to  William  D.  Bloxham,  the 
Democratic  candidate  of  more  than  twelve  months  before, 
the  lieutenant-governorship.  He  claimed  to  have  been  duly 
elected  and  had  instituted  proceedings  before  the  supreme 
court  to  gain  possession  of  the  office.  If  Reed  were  driven 
from  office  by  the  impeachment  of  a  Republican  legislature 
and  Day  driven  from  office  by  a  Republican  supreme  court, 
a  Democrat,  Bloxham,  might  become  governor  of  Florida, 
because  constitutionally  the  "  powers  and  duties  "  of  the 
governor  devolved  upon  the  lieutenant-governor  in  case  of 
impeachment.  If  Bloxham  should  become  acting  governor 
in  place  of  Reed,  expelled,  it  is  highly  probable  that  he 
would  appoint  a  Democratic  lieutenant-governor  because 
the  office  of  lieutenant-governor  would  be  vacant,  and  the 
state  constitution  stipulated  that  "  when  any  office  for  any 
cause  shall   become  vacant  the  governor   shall   have   the 

*  Art.  6,  sec.  15. 


634  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

power  to  fill  such  vacancy."  ^  This  would  mean  that  Res 
publican  control  of  the  senate  would  be  lost,  for  at  the  time 
the  Republicans  controlled  it  by  only  one  vote.  The  lieu- 
tenant-governor had  the  casting  vote  in  the  case  of  a  tie. 
With  the  chief  executive  a  Conservative  and  the  senate 
dominated  by  Conservatives  the  whole  superstructure  of 
local  Republican  government  would  be  changed.  Most 
state  administrative  offices,  all  judicial  offices,  and  all 
county  offices  except  constable  were  filled  by  the  governor 
and  the  senate.  Therefore  thoughtful  Republicans  had 
reason  to  make  haste  slowly  in  expelling  Reed.  For  them, 
he  would  be  preferable  to  a  Democrat. 

Soon  after  his  impeachment  by  the  house.  Reed  quit  the 
executive  offices  at  Tallahassee,  considering  himself  duly 
suspended  from  office  because  he  was  constitutionally  "  dis- 
qualified from  performing  any  duties  of  his  office  ".  He 
repaired  to  his  farm  near  Jacksonville.  When,  however, 
the  legislature  adjourned  sine  die  without  bringing  him  to 
trial  he  saw  fit  to  construe  its  action  as  equivalent  to  ac- 
quittal. He  watched  for  a  chance  to  emphasize  this  con- 
clusion. It  soon  came.  Acting-Governor  Day  went  to 
Jacksonville  to  attend  a  party  caucus  and  Reed  thereupon 
went  to  Tallahassee,  entered  the  executive  offices,  issued  a 
proclamation  declaring  himself  to  be  governor  of  Florida, 
appointed  a  new  attorney-general  and  a  circuit  judge,  and 
then  returned  quietly  to  his  home  in  Jacksonville  to  await 
results.  Gibbs,  the  negro  secretary  of  state,  who  had 
played  a  fraudulent  part  in  counting  in  Day  against  Blox- 
ham,  approved  with  the  stamp  of  the  great  seal  of  the 
commonwealth  the  proclamation  of  Reed.  The  document 
stated  that  Acting-Governor  Day  was  "  making  removals 
from  office  and  appointments  thereto  without  authority  " 

'  Art.  6,  sec.  7. 


PARTY  POLITICS  635 

and  that  it  was  necessary  to  intervene  "  to  the  end  that  the 
rights  of  the  people,  in  the  proper  exercise  of  lawful  au- 
thority shall  be  maintained,  that  the  property  of  the  state 
shall  be  preserved,  that  the  imposition  and  collection  of 
oppressive  taxes  without  authority  of  law  shall  be  stopped, 
that  the  free  and  equal  exercise  of  political  rights,  in  the 
election  soon  to  occur,  shall  be  had."  ^  Two  days  later, 
April  loth,  Reed  proposed  to  Day  that  they  both  turn  to 
the  supreme  court  for  a  decision  as  to  who  was  governor  of 
Florida.  Day  paid  no  attention  to  the  proposal,  where- 
upon Reed  requested  an  opinion  of  the  supreme  court. 
That  tribunal  responded  on  April  29th  that  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Day  was  "neither  de  jure  nor  de  facto  governor 
of  Florida.  He  is  in  no  sense  governor.  He  is  lieutenant- 
governor  exercising  the  functions  of  the  office  of  gover- 
nor.   You  are  still  de  jure  governor."  ^ 

Meantime,  April  22nd,  Day,  who  declared  Reed's  action 
"  attempted  usurpation  in  total  disregard  of  law  and  good 
government  and  revolutionary  in  its  tendencies,"  called  an 
extra  session  of  the  legislature,  probably  expecting  to  push 
the  trial  and  finally  drive  Reed  from  office.  The  Demo- 
crats were  eager  that  the  trial  proceed  because  its  result 
might  mean  the  governorship  for  Bloxham.  The  Repub- 
lican managers  opposed  the  re-opening  of  the  trial.  Mr. 
Samuel  Pasco,  Democrat,  states  that  the  two  Republican 
factions  headed  respectively  by  Reed  and  Day  put  aside 
their  differences.  "  Terms  were  made  with  Reed,"  he 
says.^ 

On  May  2nd,  the  senate  again  sat  as  a  high  court  of  im- 
peachment with  Chief  Justice  Randall  in  the  chair.     Five 

^An.  Cyclo.,  1872-3;  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  183. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1872-3. 

3  Herbert,  Why  the  Solid  South  f  p.  i59- 


636  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

out  of  six  of  the  prosecuting  attorneys  were  Democrats 
prominently  opposed  to  the  Radical  party/  There  was 
grotesque  irony  for  some  present  on  that  occasion  in  the 
call  of  the  sergeant-at-arms.  "  Hear  ye!  Hear  ye!  Hear 
ye !  "  he  thundered  out  when  the  last  senator  had  been 
sworn  in  and  the  court  stood  convened.  "  All  persons  are 
ordered  to  keep  silence  under  penalty  of  imprisonment 
while  the  Senate  of  Florida  is  sitting  for  the  trial  of  Har- 
rison Reed,  Governor  of  Florida,  for  high  crimes  and 
misdemeanors.  God  save  the  State  of  Florida  and  this 
honorable  Senate."  Certainly  there  was  need  of  some  in- 
terposition, not  political,  for  this  pending  trial  was  a  politi- 
cal and  not  a  judicial  proceeding. 

The  trial  did  not  materialize.  On  May  4th,  the  senate 
chamber  was  crowded  by  those  awaiting  the  decision  of  the 
court.  The  counsel  for  Reed  presented  a  motion  that  the 
accused  governor  be  "  discharged  from  arrest "  and  that 
the  indictments  against  him  be  dismissed.  The  senate 
passed  the  motion  by  a  vote  of  ten  to  seven.  "  Men  could 
be  seen  in  every  direction  running  and  shouting  at  the  top 
of  their  voices,"  states  Wallace. 

Day,  now  filled  with  anguish,  was  pacing  back  and  forth,  first 
to  the  door  of  the  executive  chamber  and  peeping  out  for  his 
messenger,  and  then  back  into  his  office.  When  the  messenger 
came  running  with  the  dreadful  intelligence,  which  was  the 
end  of  his  career  as  governor,  so  anxious  was  he  to  know  the 
result  that  he  did  not  wait  his  arrival  but  ran  to  meet  him 
and  asked :  "  How  is  it  ?"  "  Reed's  discharged."  He  turned 
his  back  on  the  messenger  and  wept.^ 

'  The  Democratic  attorneys  were :  ex-Gov.  Walker,  M.  A.  Peeler  (who 
had  helped  frame  the  Black  Code),  Geo.  P.  Raney  (of  the  Dem.  minor- 
ity in  the  legislature),  T.  W.  Brevard  (a  veteran  of  the  Confederate 
Army),  and  Boiling  Baker  (one-time  member  of  the  Confederate  Gov- 
ernment). 

'  Op.  cit.,  pp.  209-10. 


PARTY  POLITICS  637 

The  hurrahing  which  accompanied  the  announcement  of 
the  vote  marked  the  end  of  a  contest  between  governor  and 
legislature  which  had  been  stretched  over  four  years  and 
which  by  1872  had  lost  enough  of  its  novelty  to  become 
tiresome. 

The  contest  which  had  just  ended,  occurred  on  the  eve 
of  the  campaign  of  1872.  The  situation  was  very  similar 
to  that  in  1870.  From  a  Democratic  standpoint  the  open- 
ing was  full  of  encouragement.  The  Republican  party  was 
racked  by  continued  strife  among  its  leaders.  The  legis- 
lature was  nearly  balanced  between  Radical  and  Conserva- 
tive. The  last  election  had  witnessed  a  heavy  falling-off 
of  Republican  strength.  The  Liberal  Republican  move- 
ment, which  in  national  affairs  was  so  promising  at  first, 
touched  Florida  affairs  here  and  there. 

The  "  Conservative  State  Central  Committee,"  in  ap- 
pointing delegates  to  the  Democratic  national  convention 
at  Baltimore,  instructed  them  to  favor  "a  Liberal  Republican 
nominee  ".^  On  August  14th,  1872,  the  Democratic  state 
convention  met  in  Jacksonville.  Amid  very  little  exhibi- 
tion of  conflict  or  of  asperity  of  feeling  Bloxham  was  nomi- 
nated for  governor;  Robert  W.  Bullock,  for  lieutenant- 
governor  ;  and  Silas  Niblack  and  Charles  M.  Jones,  for  con- 
gress.^ The  convention  endorsed  the  "  Cincinnati  "  or  Lib- 
eral Republican  platform  and  the  "  National  Democratic 
Ticket ",  which  was  the  Liberal  Republican  ticket^  A 
"  Liberal  Republican  Convention "  convened  in  Jackson- 
ville and  endorsed  the  Democratic  state  ticket.*  Was  there 
to  be  in  Florida  a  happy  fusion  of  Democrats  and  discon- 

'  An.  Cyclo.,  1872-3, 

*  Floridian,  Aug.  20,  1872.    The  convention  was  in  session  three  days, 
adjourning,  Aug.  16. 

'  An.  Cyclo.,  1872-3. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  216. 


638 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


tented  Republicans?  The  thought  was  no  doubt  pleasing 
to  certain  optimistic  Democrats. 

The  Republican  state  convention  had  met  on  Augusi 
7th,  at  Tallahassee.  Memories  of  riotous  1868  were  re- 
vived. A  big  crowd  congregated  in  the  town.  Fairly 
good  order  prevailed  on  the  streets,  but  this  was  not  true 
of  the  assembly  hall  in  the  capitol  building  where  the  con- 
vention was  in  session.  Seven  different  individuals  were 
competing  for  the  governorship.  The  most  prominent  were 
Reed,  Stearns,  and  Hart.  The  first  ballot  indicated  that 
Stearns,  carpet-bagger,  had  the  greater  number  of  white 
supporters.^  Reed  had  lost  that  leadership  of  the  Repub- 
licans which  back  in  the  years  1867  and  1868  he  had  been 
reputed  to  have. 

Most  of  the  negroes  supported  Justice  Hart  of  the  Su- 
preme Court.  Hart  was  a  Southern  Republican  or  "  scal- 
awag ".  On  the  second  ballot  Stearns  was  nominated  by  a 
small  majority.  "  The  scene  which  followed  beggars  de- 
scription," chronicled  the  Floridian. 

Many  of  the  Hart  men,  mostly  colored,  became  frantic.  They 
rushed  about  the  room,  mounted  desks,  chairs,  etc.,  yelled, 
bawled,  and  swore  that  they  would  not  submit  to  any  such 
nomination.  Persons  on  the  street  thought  that  the  conven- 
tion had  broken  up  in  a  general  row  and  expected  any  minute 
to  see  the  delegates  come  tumbling  out  into  the  streets.^ 

*  Floridian,  Aug.  13,  1872.  There  was  considerable  wrangling  over 
the  credentials  of  delegates.  The  regular  business  was  carried  on 
behind  closed  doors.  The  contest  for  the  two  nominations  to  Con- 
gress was  closely  contested  by  negroes,  who  obtained  one  place  (Walls). 
The  negro  Methodist  Church  was  opposed  to  certain  carpet-bag  lead- 
ers, particularly  Purman  and  Gleason,  because  of  the  part  they  had 
taken  in  expelling  the  negro  Bishop  Pearce  from  the  legislature.  See 
resolutions  of  A.  M.  E.  Church,  Hamilton  Co.,  Floridian,  Aug.  20,  1872. 

'  Floridian,  Aug.  13,  1872. 


PARTY  POLITICS  639 

The  nominee  tried  to  speak.  His  voice  was  drowned  by 
the  howls  of  the  delegates.  When  order  was  partly  re- 
stored, Stearns  announced  that  he  withdrew  in  favor  of 
Judge  Hart.  He  thereupon  received  second  place  on  the 
ticket.  Thus  did  the  negroes  play  an  important  role  in 
dictating  party  nominations.^  Josiah  T.  Walls,  negro,  and 
W.  J.  Purman,  carpet-bagger,  were  nominated  for  Con- 
gress. The  platforms  of  the  two  parties  were  rather  color- 
less and  much  alike.  The  issue  as  seen  by  the  average 
Conservative  can  be  deduced  from  the  headlines  of  the 
leading  Conservative  journal — "  If  you  want  an  honest 
state  government  vote  for  Bloxham  to-day."  ^  There  was 
nothing  strikingly  original  in  this. 

As  the  autumn  approached  the  Democratic  outlook  in 
Florida  failed  to  brighten.  It  took  on  the  pale  gloom  of 
the  Conservative  cause  in  the  nation  at  large.  Yet  the  local 
campaign  was  hard  fought  and  somewhat  bitter  in  regard 
to  the  race  question.^  Strenuous  speeches  were  made  by 
Democratic  stumpers,  but  the  operation  of  the  Federal  En- 
forcement Act  through  the  Federal  courts  had  a  subduing 
effect  upon  Democratic  regulators.  The  whip,  halter,  and 
shot-gun  were  less  in  evidence  and  the  influence,  therefore, 
of  the  Conservative  campaign  thunder  upon  the  black  was 
less.  The  "  liberal  "  element  in  the  Republican  party  for 
Florida  amounted  practically  to  nothing. 

The  result  at  the  polls  on  November  5th,  1872,  showed 
that  the  heaviest  vote  in  the  history  of  Florida  had  been 
cast  but  that  the  Democratic  state  ticket  had  been  defeated 

^  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  214-215.  Wallace  infers  that  Stearns  and  his 
friends  arranged  in  advance  this  method  of  securing  second  place  for 
Stearns. 

*  Floridian,  Nov.  5,  1872. 

'See  Floridian,  Aug.  6,  13,  20,  Sept.  10,  Oct.  i,  15,  1872;  Wallace, 
op.  cit.,  p.  216. 


640  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

by  1,599  votes,  and  the  national  ticket  by  more  than  2,000. 
Grant  and  Wilson  received  17,763  votes;  Greeley  and 
Brown,  15,427.  Purman  and  Walls,  Republican  candi- 
dates 'for  Congress,  each  received  a  majority  of  more  than 
1,700.  The  Republican  ticket,  state  and  national,  there- 
fore prevailed  decidedly.'- 

The  general  character  of  proceedings  at  the  polls  was 
very  like  that  in  1870.  To  keep  order  squads  of  Federal 
troops  were  distributed  over  the  state  on  the  day  of  election 
— a  colonel  and  thirty-six  men  at  Jacksonville;  a  major  and 
twenty  men  at  Marianna;  a  major  and  twenty  men  at  Tal- 
lahassee ;  a  lieutenant  and  twelve  men  at  Lake  City ;  a  lieu- 
tenant and  twelve  men  at  Ouincy;  and  smaller  squads  of 
men  at  other  points.^  These  Federal  soldiers  were  the 
auxiliaries  of  the  Republican  party,  and  were  appreciable 
factors  in  winning  the  election. 

"  Federal  arrests "  played  some  part  in  carrying  the 
polls.  United  States  Senator  Osborn  and  United  States 
Marshal  Conant,  upon  hearing  that  the  boards  of  can- 
vassers for  Alachua  and  Marion  Counties  were  considering 
throwing  out  several  precincts  for  gross  irregularity  in  the 
voting,  telegraphed  Dennis  and  Le  Cain,  Republican  bosses 
for  these  localities,  to  arrest  the  canvassers  who  would  not 
"  go  with  them  "  in  an  illegal  canvass.  The  board  of  Ala- 
chua County  consisted  of  William  Birney,  county  judge;  H. 
S.  Harmon,  county  clerk;  and  R.  W.  Roberts,  justice  of 
the  peace — all  Republicans.     The  returns  from  two  pre- 

^  Floridian.  Dec.  17,  1872,  for  formal  returns  by  counties.  The  Re- 
publican presidential  electors  were  Knight,  Stewart,  Tannerhill,  and 
Montgomery.  Each  received  more  than  17,700  votes.  The  Democratic 
candidates  for  electors  were  Call,  McLeod,  Davidson,  and  Allan,  each 
receiving  over  15,400  votes.  Hart  and  the  victorious  Republican  ticket 
carried  only  12  of  the  39  counties. 

*  Floridian,  Nov.  5,  1872. 


PARTY  POLITICS  641 

cincts,  favorable  to  Republicans  but  forged,  were  thrown 
out  by  this  board.  Thereupon  Judge  Birney  was  arrested 
by  Deputy  United  States  Marshal  Childs  upon  warrant 
issued  upon  affidavit  of  L.  G.  Dennis,  charging  Birney  with 
violation  of  the  Federal  Enforcement  Act.  He  was  carried 
to  Jacksonville  under  arrest.  Roberts  and  Harmon  were 
threatened  with  violence  by  Dennis's  "  Liberty  Hill  Gang  " 
of  negro  toughs  if  they  should  fail  to  count  the  fraudulent 
votes.  ^ 

The  foregoing  is  a  sample  of  what  went  on.  Conser- 
vatives resorted  to  threats  of  lawless  violence  to  keep  ne- 
groes from  the  polls.  Radicals  resorted  to  chicanery  and 
the  violent  execution  of  Federal  law,  to  make  elections  turn 
out  the  way  they  wished. 

The  composition  of  the  new  state  legislature  showed  a 
slight  development  in  favor  of  the  party  in  power.  In  the 
house  were  now  twenty-nine  Republicans  and  twenty-three 
Democrats;  in  the  senate,  thirteen  Republicans  and  eleven 
Democrats.^  The  Democratic  members  were  white.  About 
half  of  the  Republicans  were  black. 

During  the  next  four  years  only  slight  changes  took 
place  in  the  political  situation.  The  Radical  party  con- 
tinued to  control  the  state  government  with  a  power  in 
votes  slightly  on  the  decrease.  The  general  movement  of 
politics  was  again  toward  such  a  balance  as  existed  in  1870. 

The  congressional  and  legislative  elections  of  1874 
showed  a  Democratic  gain.'  W.  J.  Purman,  Republican, 
was  elected  to  Congress  over  John  A.  Henderson,  Demo- 
crat, in  the  First  District.    The  votes  cast  stood  10,045  to 

*  Jacksonville  Republican,  Nov.  16,  1872 ;  Floridian,  Nov.  19,  1872. 

^  An.  Cyclo.,  1872-3. 

'Floridian,  July  21,  Aug.  11,  18,  Sept.  22,  1874,  for  preliminaries  of 
party  organization  in  this  election. 


642  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

9,377.  In  the  Second  District,  comprising  the  more  east- 
ern counties  and  less  of  the  Black  Belt,  Josiah  T.  Walls, 
negro,  was  returned  over  J.  J.  Finley,  a  veteran  Brigadier- 
General  of  the  Confederate  army.  The  finding  of  the 
state  returning  board  was  8,549  votes  for  Walls  and  8,178 
for  Finley.^  The  contest  in  this  district  was  accompanied 
by  sharp  and  lawless  practice  on  the  part  of  the  Repub- 
lican election  officials — particularly  in  Columbia  and  Ala- 
chua Counties.  In  Alachua  County  a  negro  deputy  Federal 
marshal,  "  Colonel  "  Saunders,  acted  in  a  strangely  ob- 
streperous manner.  He  threatened  with  arrest  election  offi- 
cials and  some  would-be  Democratic  voters.  They  fled 
from  the  polls  without  casting  their  ballots,  fearing  appre- 
hension by  the  United  States  government,  which  Saunders 
personified.^ 

In  Columbia  County  the  polls  of  an  important  precinct 
were  opened  by  irresponsible  persons,  who  were  Repub- 
licans, one  hour  before  the  announced  time  and  before  the 
arrival  of  the  regular  election  officials.  It  was  claimed  by 
Democrats  that  during  this  hour  a  safe  number  of  illegal 
ballots  for  Walls,  Republican,  was  dropped  into  the  ballot- 
box.'  Finley  claimed  that  fraud  had  been  perpetrated  in 
sixteen  precincts  of  his  district.  He  presented  his  case  to 
Congress  and  twenty-three  months  after  the  election  a  com- 
mittee, Democratic  in  majority,  made  a  recount  of  five  pre- 
cincts, reversed  the  findings  of  the  state  canvassing  board, 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1873-4. 

'  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  52  (contested  election  case, 
Finley  vs.  Walls),  p.  377.  It  was  claimed  also  that  "a  large  and  ex- 
cited crowd  (negroes)  armed  with  clubs,  etc.  .  .  .  surrounded  said 
poll  and  so  boisterously  and  violently  demeanored  themselves  that  a 
number  of  my  supporters  (Democrats)  left  without  voting." 

•  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  4Sth  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  52,  pp.  382-388. 


PARTY  POLITICS  643 

and  awarded  Finley,  Democrat,  the  seat  by  a  majority  of 
343  votes.' 

The  Florida  legislature  after  the  election  of  1874  was 
very  near  a  balance  between  Radical  and  Conservative.  In 
the  senate,  Democrats  and  Republicans  were  equal,  twelve 
each.  In  the  house  were  twenty-eight  Republicans  and 
twenty-five  Democrats.'^  Thus  politics  in  Florida  was  sub- 
stantially in  accord  with  that  change  in  public  opinion,  the 
nation  over,  which  has  been  aptly  termed  the  "  Demo- 
cratic Tidal-wave  of  '74".^  Republican  strength  was  pretty 
well  restricted  to  the  plantation  counties  with  large  negro 
population.  Purman,  in  the  First  Congressional  District 
of  twenty-two  counties,  carried  in  1874  only  four 
counties,  but  was  elected  because  of  heavy  negro  ma- 
jorities. Walls  carried  only  four  of  the  seventeen  counties 
making  up  the  Second  District.  Thirty  out  of  thirty-nine 
counties  of  the  state  in  1874  were  represented  in  the  lower 
house  of  the  legislature  by  Democrats.* 

The  last  four  years  of  Republican  rule  in  Florida  de- 
veloped greater  harmony  between  executive  and  legisla- 
ture. Impeachment  was  a  thing  of  the  past.  But  these 
years  witnessed  a  decline  in  harmonious  actions  of  negro 
and  white  politicians,  and  increase  in  the  Southern  white 
man's  ability  to  keep  the  black  from  voting.  The  basis  of 
Radical  power  was  negro  votes.  Radical  power  was  there- 
fore declining.  The  election  of  United  States  senators  by 
the  state  assembly  indicated  the  direction  of  the  local  politi- 

^  H.  Mis^.  Does.,  45th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  52,  pp.  367-390.  Finley  was 
sworn  on  April  19,  1876. 

^  Floridian,  Dec.  15,  1874;  An.  Cycle,  1873-4. 

*  See  Dunning,  Reconst.  Polit.  and  Ec,  chap.  15.  The  term  origin- 
ated in  the  journals  of  the  time. 

*  Floridian,  Nov.  10,  Dec.  15,  1874;  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  2nd  S., 
No.  52. 


644  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

cal  wind  during  these  four  years.  When  Radical  Senator 
Osborn's  term  was  finished  in  1873  the  lively  balloting  for 
a  successor  included  several  Democrats  of  prominence. 
Simon  B.  Conover,  a  moderate  Republican,  was  finally 
elected.^  He  had  come  into  the  state  with  the  Union  army 
in  1866.    Both  Democrats  and  Republicans  voted  for  him.^ 

Two  years  later,  in  1875,  the  assembly  convened  to,  elect 
a  senator  to  succeed  Abijah  Gilbert.  No  fewer  than  ten 
possibilities  developed  during  the  balloting.  Almost  every 
class  of  political  timber  was  included — the  aristocratic 
Democrat,  the  plebeian  Democrat,  the  one-time  Whig,  the 
white  Republican  carpet-bagger,  the  scalawag,  and  a  negro, 
George  W.  Witherspoon.  The  last  was  a  current  type  of 
the  negro  orator-politician.  Deep-chested,  jet-black,  full- 
throated,  and  darkly  imposing  in  manner — he  claimed  to  be 
the  '  silver-tongued  orator  of  the  South  "  and  really  did 
partly  make  up  in  a  certain  eloquent  and  sonorous  cadence 
of  sound  what  he  lacked  in  knowledge.  He  put  the  ever- 
interesting  phantoms  and  longings  of  a  negro  imagination 
in  place  of  constructive  political  ideas,  maybe — but  this  was 
suited  to  campaigning  in  negro  churches  and  camp  meet- 
ings. 

Ballot  after  ballot  brought  no  decisive  result.  At  last 
on  the  twenty-fifth  attempt  Charles  M.  Jones,  of  Escambia 
County,  came  within  one  of  a  majority.  He  arose  before 
his  electors  and  stated:  "  In  behalf  of  1,500  voters  whom  I 
have  the  honor  to  represent  I  cast  my  vote  for  Charles  M. 
Jones  ".'  He  was  elected.  Thus  did  Florida  Democracy 
after  fourteen  years  of  absence  win  representation  again 
in  the  national  congress — the  candidate  voting  for  himself. 

*  Tribune  Almanac,  1875,  pp.  46-47. 

*  An.  Cycle,  1873-4.    Conover  came  originally  from  Middlesex  Co., 
N.  J.    He  entered  the  Federal  Army  as  a  surgeon  in  1863. 

*  Rerick,  op.  cit.,  pp.  332. 


PARTY  POLITICS  645 

Jones  was  a  remarkable  individual; — "  of  stalwart  form," 
loose-jointed,  shuffling,  crude — some  said — a  bit  Lincoln- 
like in  gait  and  manner  and  viewpoint,  with  an  eloquent 
tongue,  a  necktie  that  often  surreptitiously  sought  the  top 
of  his  collar,  coat  sleeves  usually  a  trifle  short,  a  deep  fund 
of  bright,  shady  stories  at  his  command  when  necessary, 
and  a  marvelously  quick  and  able  grasp  of  the  essentials  in 
politics  and  law.  He  began  life  a  very  poor  boy.  He  de- 
veloped into  a  carpenter  and  once  hearing  a  fairly  pros- 
perous lawyer  make  a  fool  of  himself  in  court,  he  decided 
to  study  law  himself,  for  lawyers  usually  thrive  better  than 
carpenters.  He  was  almost  unlettered  when  he  began  to 
acquire  law.  This  was  not  an  auspicious  beginning.  Cox 
recalls  him  in  after  years  as  an  Irishman  of  "  gentle  man- 
ners, accomplished  talent,  rare  genius  for  law  and  compre- 
hension of  fact  and  philosophy.  He  was  one  of  the  first 
to  aid  in  lifting  the  South  out  of  its  quagmire."  * 

1875.  The  end  of  Republican  rule  in  Florida  was  draw- 
ing near.  The  tenure  of  this  party  had  been  a  troubled 
one.  In  every  state-wide  election  since  1868,  four  in  all, 
the  opponent  political  organization,  a  white  man's  party, 
had  accused  it,  a  black  and  white  party,  of  gross  fraud  and 
tyranny.  During  the  four  years  of  Governor  Reed's  ad- 
ministration no  fewer  than  four  unsuccessful  attempts  had 
been  made  by  the  legislature  to  drive  him  from  office. 
That  for  which  Democrat  strove  against  Republican  and 
very  possibly  for  which  Republicans  contested  among  them- 
selves was  primarily  the  control  of  state  finance  and  re- 
sources. Was  this  position  of  control  being  improperly  or 
dishonestly  used  by  the  Republican  party?  This  raises  at 
once  the  question  of  the  actual  character  of  much  adminis- 
trative and  legislative  activity  during  the  period.     The  re- 

*  Cox,  Three  Decades  of  Federal  Legislation,  p.  524. 


646  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

view  of  politics  so  far  attempted  offers  some  explanation 
of  conditions.  Too  scant  record  remains  to  ever  conclu- 
sively answer  how  well  and  honestly  the  Republicans  made 
and  administered  the  laws.  Yet,  some  ideas  can  be 
gleaned  from  even  a  cursory  examination  of  what  is  left 
of  the  dominant  party's  record — the  record  of  Republican 
rule. 


CHAPTER  XXV 
The  Record  of  Republican  Rule 

The  Republicans  gained  complete  control  of  Florida's 
government  in  June,  1868.  Most  of  the  Republican  voters 
were  negroes  hardly  above  barbarism.  Most  of  the  local 
Republican  leaders  were  whites  who  had  lately  come  into 
the  South  from  the  North.  This  was  the  black  and  white 
combination  which  in  the  judgment  of  the  native  white 
Conservative  gave  a  distinctly  sorhbre  character  to  the  Re- 
publican party  South.  That  party  controlled  the  govern- 
ment of  Florida  till  1877.  Its  career  in  Florida  has  been 
sufficiently  criticised  and  condemned  to  call  for  a  more  con- 
clusive investigation  than  is  possible  to-day.  Records  are 
meager  and  some  are  clearly  ex  parte.  It  is,  iq  fact,  diffi- 
cult to  eliminate  bias  from  judgments  of  politics  during 
the  Reconstruction  period.  The  end  of  any  such  attempted 
investigation  should  be  to  establish  the  character  of  the 
dominant  party. 

A  political  party's  positive  character  is  probably  best  re- 
flected in  the  administration  of  public  affairs  by  its  leaders. 
Record  of  such  administration  tends  to  show  what  prin- 
ciples and  policies  were  actually  adhered  to.  Campaign 
platforms  and  pre-election  pledges  are  obviously  of  sec- 
ondary value  as  guides  to  the  truth.  When  reviewed  long 
after  the  election  they  sometimes  indicate  what  principles 
and  policies  were  not  adhered  to,  although  their  platitudes 
are  usually  sufficiently  broad  to  admit  of  almost  any  ex- 
planation.    The  prime  object  of  this  chapter  is  to  inquire 

647 


648  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

into  some  aspects  of  Republican  legislation  and  administra- 
tion. It  is  not  the  object  of  the  chapter  to  set  forth  that 
which  Republicans  promised  to  do,  nor  to  explain  the  diffi- 
culties of  their  position. 

The  constitution  which  was  drawn  up  in  1868  by  a  Re- 
publican convention  and  ratified  by  negro  votes  extended 
the  suffrage  and  the  right  to  hold  political  office  to  the 
black.  It  made  provision  for  a  fairly  enlightened  govern- 
ment, but  a  government  which  in  its  local  application  over 
the  entire  state  could  be  effectively  controlled  by  a  few 
party  leaders.  It  provided  that  all  local  officials,  except 
constables,  should  be  appointed  by  the  governor  and  senate 
instead  of  elected  by  the  people.^  This  insured  Republican 
local  supremacy  in  white  sections  and  was  accordingly 
loudly  condemned  by  some  white  Conservatives  living  in 
such  sections.  But  in  practice  the  appointive  principle 
proved  not  a  particularly  bad  one  for  the  state  because  of 
the  peculiar  condition  of  the  suffrage  and  of  party  align- 
ment. The  governor  appointed  to  office  better  men  in  the 
populous  black  sections  than  the  negroes  would  have 
elected.  Florida  had  undergone  so  many  vicissitudes  by 
1868,  that  the  adoption  of  this  constitution  did  not  work  a 
revolution.  The  negroes  were  then  already  voting  and 
holding  office.  The  state  had  already  undergone  two  per- 
iods of  centralized  military  rule. 

In  this  Republican  constitution,  probably  the  most  signifi- 
cant characteristics  not  already  mentioned  were:  i,  the  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  higher  government  offices;  2,  the 
decided  advance  in  salaries  of  higher  officials;  3,  the  gen- 
eral preparation  for  an  expansion  of  the  state  government's 
activities.  The  critics  of  Republican  rule  point  this  out  as 
an  indication  of  preparation  to  exploit  the  state  by  unduly 

*  Constitution  of  1868,  sec.  vi,  arts.   17-20 — H.  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  C, 
2nd  S.,  No.  114,  pp.  11-31. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  649 

elevating  salaries  and  multiplying  offices.  Such  a  conclu- 
sion is  open  to  question.  As  to  multiplication  of  offices : 
the  number  of  circuit  judges  was  increased  from  five  to 
seven ;  the  governor's  cabinet,  from  five  to  eight ;  the  posi- 
tion of  lieutenant-governor  was  created;  and  the  legisla- 
ture, slightly  augmented.  As  to  advance  in  salaries:  in 
i860  the  governor  received  $2,500;  in  1868,  $5,000;  in 
i860  the  secretary  of  state  received  $800;  in  1868,  he 
and  the  other  seven  members  of  the  cabinet  received  each 
$3,000;  in  i860,  the  chief  justice  received  $2,500;  in  1868, 
$4,500.  In  i860,  the  salaries  paid  by  the  state  to  main- 
tain the  executive  department  and  the  judiciary  amounted 
to  $26,200.  By  1868,  these  salaries  had  risen  to  $68,500. 
The  legislature  cost  $12,637  ^^  i860;  in  1869,  it  cost  $48,- 
615.70.^ 

Thus  the  Republicans  provided  for  more  and  better-paid 
state  officials.  In  doing  so  they  might  have  acted  in  rea- 
sonable response  to  necessity.  The  Conservatives  who  ruled 
the  state  between  1865-67  had  increased  the  number  of 
justices,  created  county  courts,  and  advanced  the  salaries 
of  governor  and  judges.  Florida  government  salaries  have 
never  been  outrageously  high — even  under  Republican  rule. 
Most  officials,  like  other  people,  have  families  to  support  and 
few  then  enjoyed  much  income  from  rents.  In  merely  rais- 
ing salaries  the  ruling  party  did  not  act  recklessly,  and, 
furthermore,  it  showed  a  willingness  to  rectify  any  mis- 
take in  this  regard.  The  first  Republican  legislature  pro- 
posed that  a  constitutional  amendment  be  adopted  scaling 
down  salaries.  In  1870,  such  an  amendment  was  adopted, 
reducing  by  one-third  all  salaries  which  had  been  aug- 
mented.^ 

i  Herbert,  Why  the  Solid  South?  pp.  142-3,  150;  Const,  of  1868. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1870,  "  Florida."    The  governor  -was  to  receive  $3,500 


650  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

But  this  increase  in  expenditure  provided  for  in  the  con- 
stitution proved  to  be  but  a  sign  of  the  times,  an  indication 
of  Republican  policy,  which  proved  disastrous  for  South- 
ern tax-payers.  Republican  leaders  in  Florida,  as  in  the 
other  Southern  states,  desired  to  expand  tremendously  the 
activities  of  the  state.  "  Things  must  be  done  they  be- 
lieved on  a  larger,  nobler,  freer  scale  than  under  the  de- 
based regime  of  slavery.  Accordingly,  both  by  the  new 
constitutions  and  by  legislation  the  expenses  of  the  new 
governments  were  largely  increased ;  offices  were  multiplied 
in  all  departments ;  salaries  were  made  more  worthy  of  the 
now  regenerated  and  progressive  commonwealths."  ^  The 
dreams  of  honest  Republicans  were  no  doubt  worthy,  but 
dishonest  individuals  took  advantage  of  conditions  to  un- 
mercifully exploit  the  expanding  government.  Humani- 
tarians found  it  impossible  to  carry  out  adequately  plans 
for  social  regeneration  with  a  semi-barbarous  electorate: 
and  a  graft-eaten  government.  The  expenditure  by  the 
state  for  printing  and  stationery  alone  in  1869  was  $1,500 
more  than  the  entire  cost  of  the  state  government — legis- 
lation included — in  i860;  ^  and  yet  it  is  safe  to  say  that  a 
majority  of  those  persons  engaged  in  making  and  enforcing 
the  laws  in  1869  could  neither  read  nor  write. 

The  Republican  administration  in  Florida  began  with 
big  ideas.  Governor  Reed  soon  after  his  inauguration  for- 
mulated some  of  these  vague  expectations.^  He  declared 
that  the  taxable  property  under  the  old  system  had  been 

instead  of  $5,000;  all  of  the  supreme  court  $3,000  each  instead  of  $4,500 
and  $4,000;  the  circuit  judges  $2,500  instead  of  $3,500;  the  cabinet  offi- 
cers $2,000  instead  of  $3,000;  and  the  members  of  the  legislature  "per 
diem  "  and  "  mileage  ". 
1  Dunning,  Reconst.  Polit.  and  Econ.,  p.  205. 

•  Herbert,  op.  cit.  (Pasco),  p.  150. 

•  Governor's  Message,  An.  Cyclo.,  1870-71. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  65 1 

greatly  undervalued.  In  the  new  system  which  began  with 
his  inauguration  he  proposed  that  the  tax-assessors,  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor,  and  not  the  owners  of  the  prop- 
erty, should  swear  to  the  value  of  the  property/  He  would 
tax  the  400  miles  of  railway  hitherto  free  of  taxation,  the 
I  ,cxx)  miles  of  telegraph  line  within  the  state,  and  the  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  land  held  by  the  railways  which  paid  no 
taxes.  He  proposed,  in  a  word,  that  the  corporations  be 
made  to  pay  up — and  this  proposal  on  its  face  was  reason- 
able and  right.  He  estimated  the  value  of  taxable  prop- 
erty in  Florida  at  $50,ocK>,ooo.  He  pointed  out  that  a 
state  tax  of  one-half  of  one  per  cent  should  yield  an  income 
of  $250,000.  He  called  attention  further  to  the  11,000,000 
acres  of  public  land  belonging  to  the  state,  which  might  be 
made  to  yield,  in  some  fashion,  immediate  revenue  to  the 
state.  ^ 

Governor  Reed  addressed  a  memorial  to  congress  pray- 
ing for  the  restoration  of  those  lands  lost  to  Florida  by 
secession.  The  lands  were  desired,  he  wrote,  "  to  induce 
capitalists  to   enter  again   upon   the   work  of   completing 

*  Flaridian,  June  15,  1869.  "  The  system  of  the  assessment  of  prop- 
erty should  be  thoroughly  reorganized,"  stated  the  governor  in  his 
message  of  June  9.  "  In  one  locality  by  means  of  a  committee  of  ap- 
praisers appointed  outside  the  constituted  authorities,  to  aid  the  as- 
sessor, property  heretofore  assessed  at  $600,000  will  for  the  current 
year  be  returned  for  $1,500,000.  This  shows  one  of  two  things, — 
either  that  property  has  heretofore  been  exempted  on  the  part  of 
assessors,  or  that  the  persons  who  should  render  true  statements  of 
their  property  have  under  oath  rendered  it  at  much  less  than  its  value." 

*  Floridian,  April  6,  i86g.  It  was  estimated  by  the  Floridian  that 
14,166,378  acres  of  land  had  been  given  the  state  by  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment. Of  this  amount  10,910,000  acres  were  designated  "  swamp 
land  ".  1,760,468  acres  were  granted  to  aid  railroad  construction  See 
House  Journal,  ist  session,  1868,  pp.  55-58,  for  Reed's  ideas  about  the 
taxable  strength  of  the  state. 


652  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Florida's  internal  improvement  system  ".^  In  subsidizing 
internal  improvement,  the  new  Republican  administration 
would  begin  practically  where  the  Democrats  had  left  off 
before  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War.  The  proposal  to  ex- 
tend state  aid  to  capitalists  was,  therefore,  not  a  new  thing 
for  Florida.  A  senate  committee  in  1869,  entrusted  with 
investigating  internal  improvement,  suspected  what  might 
be  the  outcome.  "  Men  do  not  organize  themselves  into 
railroad  companies  for  glory,  but  for  personal  interest," 
stated  the  committee.  "  No  bonds  should  be  issued  to  any 
railroad  company  by  the  state,  or  the  company's  bonds  en- 
dorsed by  the  state  except  as  work  progresses  and  is  ap- 
proved by  the  state  engineer."  ^ 

The  Republicans  found  an  empty  treasury,  society  in  a 
pathetically  impoverished  condition  and  a  number  of  bank- 
rupt railway  systems.  The  administration  addressed  itself 
at  once  to  the  development  of  the  railways.  The  governor 
memorialized  the  Federal  Congress  for  land  to  aid  in  com- 
pleting the  railway  lines  from  the  Atlantic  to  Pensacola  on 
the  Gulf,  as  an  "  eastern  link  "  in  the  line  of  the  Southern 
Pacific  Railroad  from  New  Orleans.  "  Down  the  Penin- 
sula to  Charlotte  Harbor  and  Key  West,  is  also  of  national 
importance,"  he  declared, 

in  contemplation  of  the  more  intimate  relations  with  Cuba. 
The  connection  of  the  St.  Johns  River  and  the  Indian  River 
by  canal  and  the  opening  of  navigation  to  Biscayne  Bay,  will 
give  an  inland  navigation  of  near  1,000  miles,  extending  from 
Savannah  to  Key  West.     The  State  has  granted  liberal  fran- 

^  Floridian,  April  (?),  1869.  The  Floridian,  a  leading  Democratic 
journal,  applauded  this  memorial.  The  state  legislature  in  its  July- 
August  session  (1868)  passed  resolutions  requesting  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment to  regrant  lands  to  the  state, — see  Laws  of  Florida,  isth  As- 
sembly, Nos.  7,  8. 

'  Floridian,  June  22,  1869.     Report  of  committee. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  653 

chises  to  these  enterprises,  and  if  the  Federal  Government  will 
renew  the  former  grants  with  some  necessary  additions,  four 
years  will  complete  the  entire  system  of  internal  improvements 
in  Florida.^ 

In  the  definite  aid  asked  by  the  governor  is  exposed  the 
internal  improvement  contemplated  by  him.  He  wished 
the  grant  of  alternate  sections  of  Federal  lands  for  six 
miles  on  each  side  of  the  following  projected  railway  lines 
and  canals,  i,  A  railway  from  Quincy  to  Pensacola,  about 
150  miles.  2,  A  railway  from  Chattahoochee  toward  Eu- 
faula  (Ala.),  about  50  miles.  3,  A  railway  from  Baldwin 
to  Charlotte  harbor,  about  250  miles.  4,  A  railway  from 
St.  Augustine  to  Jacksonville,  40  miles.  5,  K  canal  from 
the  St.  Johns  river  to  the  Indian  river,  12  miles.  6,  A  canal 
from  the  Indian  river  toward  Biscayne  bay,  20  miles. 

Being  without  transportation,  most  of  the  land  to  be  tra- 
versed by  the  railways  and  canals  was  for  the  time  a  dead 
resource  to  the  state.  Once  these  sections  were  pierced  by 
railways,  the  optimistic  believed  that  the  revenue  realty  of 
the  state  would  be  hugely  increased.  In  a  word,  the  Re- 
publican governor  proposed  that  the  lands  of  the  state  be 
developed  by  the  efforts  of  the  government  in  order  that 
the  government  might  be  strengthened  by  the  consequent 
development  of  the  state.  What  finally  came  to  pass  was 
hardly  this.  The  lands  of  the  state  were  appropriated  by 
dishonest  corporations  and  individuals  and  the  government, 
in  turn,  weakened  by  the  gross  exploitation  of  the  resources 
of  the  state.  Railway  franchises,  land,  and  timber  were  in 
fact  sold  for  a  song. 

The  immediate  problem  before  the  Florida  administra- 
tion was  to  raise  money  to  sustain  itself.     In  doing  this, 

*  Floridian,  April  6,  1869,  memorial  of  Governor  Reed  dated  Wash- 
ington, March  18,  1869. 


654  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

whether  by  issuing  scrip,  floating  regular  loans,  or  collect- 
ing taxes,  mismanagement  and  graft  developed.  On  Au- 
gust 6th,  1868,  the  legislature  authorized  the  issue  of  $300,- 
000  six  per  cent  bonds, ^  and  in  September  Governor  Reed 
went  North  to  make  inquiries  among  bankers  concerning 
the  sale  or  hypothecation  of  these  securities.^  From  first  to 
last  the  Republicans  turned  to  New  York  City  for  credit. 
The  state  treasury  was  empty  in  1868.  The  public  debt 
amounted  to  more  than  a  half -million  dollars.  The  ex- 
penses of  government  for  the  year  1866-7  had  been  $25,000 
in  excess  of  receipts.  The  Republicans  were  but  newly  in- 
stalled, and  were  savagely  opposed  by  the  majority  of 
Southern  whites.  In  fact  the  political  and  economic  future 
of  the  entire  South  was  extremely  uncertain.  The  task 
therefore  of  readily  financing  Florida,  though  involving  a 
comparatively  small  amount,  proved  to  be  difficult  because 
bankers  and  other  investors  lacked  confidence  in  the  state's 
ability  or  future  willingness  to  pay  interest  on  its  bonds  and 
notes.' 

With  some  difficulty  the  bonds  authorized  in  August 
were  partly  disposed  of.  Some  were  sold  in  New  York 
and  some  in  Florida.*  Many  of  the  bonds  were  not  sold 
for  cash,  but  exchanged  for  old  state  bonds  (those  of  1867) 
or  for  outstanding  state  scrip.®    Other  bonds  were  not  sold 

*  Laws  of  Florida,  15th  Assembly,  chap.  1634. 

*  Floridian,  Sept.  15,  1868. 

*  See  comptroller's  report,  House  Journal,  3rd  Session,  1870,  Appen- 
dix, p.  8. 

*  See  correspondence  relative  to  the  sale  of  bonds,  H.  Journal,  June 
21,  1869.  Among  the  purchasers  in  Florida  were  Gov.  Reed,  a  Mr. 
Hawkins,  and  a  Mr.  Austin.  See  reference  to  Osborn's  attempt  to  sell 
the  bonds,  Floridian,  Dec.  15,  1868. 

*  See  report  Comptroller  Gamble,  H.  Journal,  June  21,  1869.  For  ex- 
ample, A.  B.  Hawkins  received  36  bonds  for  which  he  exchanged  bonds 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  655 

but  hypothecated  as  collateral  for  loans  to  the  state.  George 
W.  Swepson,  of  North  Carolina,  for  instance,  advanced 
the  government  $50,000  at  8  per  cent  on  $100,000  face 
value  of  bonds.  Securities  which  should  have  sold  at  80  or 
90  were  disposed  of  at  50,  or  hypothecated  for  less  at  a 
high  rate  of  interest,  to  be  paid  by  the  state.  In  this  fashion 
did  the  efforts  of  the  government  to  obtain  ready  money, 
quickly  tend  to  increase  its  burden  of  indebtedness. 

The  quarrel  between  Governor  Reed  and  the  legislature 
caused  the  latter  to  vest  the  control  of  the  next  bond  issue — 
$200,000  in  January,  1869 — not  in  the  governor  but  in  the 
comptroller.  Gamble.^  Reed  went  North  during  the  spring 
of  1869,^  and  evidently  thought  that  he  had  obtained  the 
consent  of  the  comptroller  to  sell  the  bonds.^  However, 
United  States  Senator  Thomas  W.  Osborn  applied  to  the 
comptroller  for  authority  to  sell  the  bonds,  and  Mr.  Gamble, 
in  good  faith,  entered  into  negotiations  with  him  while 
Governor  Reed  was  away.*  Reed  and  Osborn  were  bitter 
enemies.  The  governor  arranged  with  Jay  Cooke  and  Co., 
of  New  York,  to  dispose  of  the  $200,000  issue  at  75.'    He 

of  1867  to  the  amount  of  $28,208.34  and  state  scrip  for  $8,158.50.  Gov. 
ernor  Reed  on  Feb.  27,  1869,  purchased  four  bonds  at  80  cents  in  Flor- 
ida scrip,  etc. 

*  H.  Journal,  June  21,  1869. 

'  He  left  early  in  March  and  was  in  the  North  about  30  days. 
Floridian,  April  6,  1869. 

'  H.  Journal,  June  21,  1869.  "When  about  to  leave"  (for  the  North), 
wrote  Gamble  in  1869,  "  he  [the  Governor]  remarked  to  me  in  sub- 
stance :  '  I  can  be  of  service  to  you  in  Washington  by  selling  the  bonds '. 
I  recalled  feeling  embarrassed  for  the  moment  but  I  had  fully  made 
up  my  mind  that  I  could  not  authorize  him  to  sell,  and  after  a 
moment's  reflection  I  simply  replied  that  I  would  be  glad  to  hear  from 
him  what  could  be  done,  or  words  to  that  effect,"  etc. 

*  Floridian,  Dec.  15,  1868 ;  H.  Journal,  June  21,  1869. 

'  Floridian,  June  29,   1869.     The  Floridian  was  skeptical  about  the 


656  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

wrote  Gamble  for  formal  authority  to  sell  the  bonds.  The 
reply  which  he  received,  informed  him  that  the  bonds  would 
be  sold  through  Senator  Osborn.  Reed's  despairing  reply 
is  an  interesting  side-light  on  this  aspect  of  state  politics. 
"  Your  arrangement  will  be  ruinous  to  me  and  compel  my 
resignation  if  carried  out,"  he  wrote  the  comptroller.  "  I 
was  offered  75  by  Jay  Cooke  and  Co.,  and  agreed  to  deliver 
if  I  could  not  get  more  here.  I  acted  on  your  direction 
given  at  the  moment  of  starting  and  my  faith  is  pledged. 
The  negotiation  by  Osborn  will  give  him  entire  control  of 
political  affairs  if  sanctioned,  and  my  honor  is  gone."  ^ 
Neither  Reed  nor  Osborn  sold  the  bonds  and  the  comp- 
troller at  this  time  refused  to  hypothecate  them  with  the 
National  Loan  and  Trust  Co.  of  New  York — in  touch  with 
Reed — because  the  terms  were  too  unfavorable  to  the 
state.  The  foregoing  incident  is  typical  of  the  inharmon- 
ious methods  of  the  Republican  administration. 

Several  banks  and  brokerage  houses  of  New  York  City 
were  more  or  less  connected  with  the  financial  fortunes  of 
Florida  during  these  years,  such  institutions  as  Jay  Cooke 
and  Co.,  the  First  National  Bank,  the  New  York  Ware- 
house and  Security  Co.,  Soulter  and  Co.,  and  S.  W.  Hop- 
kins and  Co.^  The  last-named  house  was  the  agent  for  a 
group  of  railroad  promoters  in  the  largest  and  costliest 
blunder  or  misdeed  of  the  Republican  government — namely, 

quoted  offer  of  Jay  Cooke  and  Co.  "  Tenn.,  N.  C,  and  Va.  6's  are 
from  55  to  61  while  between  Georgia  6's  and  y's  there  is  a  marked 
difference  of  8  per  cent.  If  securities  of  these  rich  states  are  so  much 
below  the  price  for  which  Florida  bonds  are  expected  to  be  sold,  it 
is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  without  some  misunderstanding  by  which 
the  State  is  to  be  swindled  a  sale  could  not  be  effected  so  much  above 
the  general  price  of  Southern  securities." 

■ //.  Journal,  June  21,  1869 — Rpt.  Compt.  Gamble;  Reed  to  Gamble, 
March  11,  1869,  from  Empire  House,  Washington. 

*  H.  Journal,  June  21,  1869. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  657 

the  issue  of  bonds  to  the  Jacksonville,  Pensacola,  and 
Mobile  Railroad. 

This  transaction  affords  an  example  of  how  respect- 
able thieves  and  shrewd  manipulators  of  securities  profit  at 
the  hands  of  American  state  governments  and  at  the  ulti- 
mate expense  of  the  taxpayers.  It  is  typical  of  Recon- 
struction administration.  The  principals  in  the  transaction 
were :  the  Republican  legislature ;  certain  Republican  county 
commissioners;  the  Republican  trustees  of  a  state  railway 
fund,  known  as  the  Internal  Improvement  Fund ;  and  lastly, 
a  group  of  promoters,  financed  by  George  W.  Swepson,  of 
North  Carolina,  led  by  Milton  S.  Littlefield,  of  Maine,  and 
aided  by  certain  business  men  in  New  York  City, 

The  railways  of  Florida  had  been  built  partly  by  state 
aid.  The  commonwealth  was  represented  by  the  trustees 
of  the  Internal  Improvement  Fund,  created  in  1855.^  They 
held  for  the  state  the  bonds  of  the  subsidized  railways.  At 
the  close  of  the  war  the  roads  of  Florida  were  in  a  very 
bad  condition — burdened  by  heavy  debts,  hampered  by 
run-down  equipment,  and  not  doing  a  heavy  business.  They 
defaulted  on  their  bonds.  The  trustees  of  the  Internal  Im- 
provement Fund  were,  under  the  law,  the  governor  and  his 
cabinet.  In  1868,  the  Republicans  gained  control  of  the 
government.  The  new  trustees,  soon  after  taking  office  in 
1868,  sold  under  execution  the  Central  Railroad  (from 
Lake  City  to  Tallahassee)  for  $110,000  to  a  group  of  men 
represented  by  a  Mr.  W.  E.  Jackson.^  The  purchasers 
straightway  obtained  a  new  charter  from  the  legislature 
and  their  road  became  the  "  Florida  Central  ".' 

*  Minutes  Trustees  Internal  Improvement  Fund,  v.  i  (Fla.  Hist.  Soc, 
Jacksonville). 

2  U.  S.  Reports,  103,  R.  R.  Cos.  vs..  Schutte,  p.  120. 

•  R.  R.  Cos.  vs.  Schutte,  p.  120. 


658  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

On  February  6th,  1869,  the  trustees  sold  under  execu- 
tion for  defaulting  two  more  railroads :  the  Pensacola  and 
Georgia  Railroad  (from  Lake  City  to  Quincy)  and  the 
Tallahassee  Railroad  (from  Tallahassee  to  the  port  of  St. 
Marks). ^  This  forced  sale  was  advertised  "for  cash" 
and  the  roads  were  disposed  of  nominally  for  $1,415,000; 
yet  "  the  purchasers  were  allowed  the  privilege  of  paying 
the  purchase  money  by  delivering  the  road's  bonds  at  their 
par  value  ".^  About  a  million  dollars  worth  of  these  bonds 
had  been  quietly  bought  up  at  a  very  low  figure — 35  cents 
on  the  dollar — ^by  those  who  ultimately  used  them  to  buy 
the  roads  from  the  state.' 

The  man  who  furnished  the  money  for  the  purchase  of 
the  bonds  was  George  W.  Swepson,  of  North  Carolina,  who 
in  turn  obtained  the  money  by  embezzling  the  funds  of  a 
railway  in  North  Carolina,  of  which  he  was  president.* 
Many  of  these  old  bonds  were  held  by  the  counties  in  Flor- 
ida through  which  the  roads  passed.  The  counties  had 
before  the  war  aided  the  building  of  railways  by  purchasing 
their  bonds.  These  county  governments  were  partly 
Africanized  in  1868,  and  the  new  Republican  county  com- 
missioners sold  for  a  song  the  railway  bonds  owned  by  the 
counties." 

'  R.  R.  Cos.  vs.  Schutte,  p.  120.  H.  Rpts.  (U.  S.),  42nd  C,  2nd  S., 
No.  22,  V.  I,  p.  164.  Rpt.  Trustees  Int.  Impr.  Fund  in  Floridian,  July 
13,  1869.  The  P.  &  G.  iR.  R.  went  for  $1,220,000;  the  Tall.  R.  R.  for 
$195,000.    Also  see  Floridian,  March  23,  1869. 

^  U.  S.  Rpts.,  I,  Otto,  pp.  667-690,  State  of  Florida  vs.  Anderson  et  al. 

*  Floridian,  March  23,  July  13,  1869. 

*  R.  R.  Cos.  vs.  Schutte.  U.  S.  103,  pp.  120,  137.  "Its  [W.  Div.  of  N. 
C.  R.  R.]  moneys  were  wrongfully  invested  in  that  stock  by  an  em- 
bezzler. Swepson  was  the  embezzler,"  etc. — ^Justice  Bradley  of  the 
Federal  Supreme  Court. 

5  U.  S.  Rpts.,  I,  Otto,  p.  673— Fla.  vs.  Anderson.    Fla.  Rpts.,  v.  13, 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  659 

Swepson,  railway  promoter  of  North  Carolina,  is  said 
to  have  gone  before  the  trustees  of  the  Fund  "  with 
more  than  a  million  dollars  first-mortgage  bonds  stuffed  in 
his  breeches  pockets,  which  had  been  purchased  by  him  at 
from  30  to  35  cents  on  the  dollar."  ^ 

When  the  time  came  for  settlement  the  purchasers  were 
$472,065  short  of  cash  or  bonds;  ^  but  "by  some  con- 
trivance," stated  Justice  Bradley,  of  the  Federal  supreme 
court,  "  this  balance  was  not  paid  at  all,  but  was  only 
formally  settled  by  inducing  the  agents  of  the  trustees  to 
accept  a  check  for  the  amount  ".  Swepson,  Littlefield,  and 
their  associates  thereupon  "  obtained  a  deed  for  and  took 
possession  of  the  property".  The  check  (for  $472,065) 
proved  to  be  "  worthless  ".^  The  purchasers,  however, 
now  owned  three  railway  lines  free  of  old  encumbrances 
and  costing  them  about  $2,000  of  embezzled  cash  per  mile. 

They  went  at  once  to  the  Republican  legislators  and  in 
June,  1869,  obtained  a  charter  consolidating  the  Talla- 
hassee Railroad  and  the  Pensacola  and  Georgia  Railroad 
into  a  single  corporation  known  as  the  "  Jacksonville,  Pen- 
sacola and  Mobile  Railroad  Company  ".  The  capital  stock 
was  fixed  at  $6,000,000,  which  Swepson,  Littlefield,  and 
friends  issued  to  themselves.* 

The  new  corporation  at  once  solicited  state  aid.  The 
Florida  legislature  was  partly  black,  partly  illiterate,  and 
then  grossly  venal.     "  Littlefield  handled  plenty  of  money 

pp.  280-288,  "  Commissioners  of  Columbia  County  vs.  Wm.  Bryson ", 
pp.  452-481.  "  Commissioners  of  Columbia  County  vs.  King,"  etc. 
H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22  v.  13,  p.  211.    Herbert,  op.  cit.,  p.  148. 

*  Floridian,  July  13,  1869. 

2  R.  iR.  Co.  vs.  Schutte,  U.  S.  103,  p.  121 ;  Fla.  vs.  Anderson,  i,  Otto, 
p.  668. 
'  R.  R.  Cos.  vs.  Schutte,  U.  S.  103,  p.  121. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  122-126. 


66o  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

and  the  statesmen  of  all  shades  and  color  were  unwilling 
to  bestow  upon  him  as  a  gratuity,  privileges  which  he  was 
able  and  willing  to  pay  for  "/  He  bribed  the  bribable  to 
support  his  railway  project,  which  was  in  brief  legislative 
authority  for  the  heavy  endorsement  of  railway  securities 
by  the  state.  "  General  Littlefield  was  lobbyist  for  this 
bill,"  reported  a  witness  of  the  proceedings  in  Tallahassee. 
"  He  is  supposed  to  have  distributed  several  thousand  dol- 
lars of  railroad  transportation  bills,  current  here  as  money, 
which  were  deposited  to  his  credit,  to  the  order  of  Mr. 
Swepson,  and  drawn  out  by  Littlefield.  He  followed  this  by 
drafts  on  Soulter  and  Co.,  of  New  York,  payable  to  him- 
self and  endorsed  to  members  of  the  legislature  to  the 
amount  of  $250  and  up  to  thousands  ".^ 

Wholesale  bribery  went  on  lustily  in  Tallahassee.  Legis- 
lators were  selling  the  credit  of  the  state.  Governor  Reed 
was  accused  of  being  a  party  to  the  trading.  A  letter  re- 
puted to  have  been  written  by  Swepson  to  Reed,  May  31st, 
1869,  states: 

You  remember  when  in  New  York  our  agreement  was  this : 
You  were  to  call  the  Legislature  together  and  use  your  influ- 
ence to  have  our  bills  passed  as  drawn  by  us ;  and  if  you  were 
successful  in  this,  you  were  to  be  paid  $12,500  in  cash,  out  of 
which  amount  was  to  be  deducted  the  $7,500  you  have  here- 
tofore received,  leaving  a  balance  of  $5,000  to  be  paid  at  an 
early  day.  Should  our  bills,  as  drawn,  pass,  we  want  you  to 
go  to  New  York  and  sign  and  issue  to  us  the  State  bonds,  and 
receive  the  bonds  of  our  roads  in  exchange  for  them.^ 

Under  such  stimulation  a  bill  expeditiously  became  law  in 
January,  1870,  amending  the  original  charter  of  the  Jack- 

*  Herbert,  op.  cit.,  p.  148. 

*  Floridian,  July  13,  1869 ;  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  chap.  ix. 

'  Letter  in  S.  S.  Cox's  Three  Decades  of  Federal  Legislation,  p.  520. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  66 1 

sonville,  Pensacola  and  Mobile  Railroad  and  authorizing 
the  issue  to  this  corporation  of  eight  per  cent  thirty-year 
state  bonds,  to  the  amount  of  $i6,(X)o  for  each  mile  of  road 
in  the  system.^  The  trustees  of  the  Internal  Improvement 
Fund  were  to  receive  from  the  succored  railway  its  bonds 
in  exchange  for  these  guarantee  bonds  of  the  state. ^  The 
professed  object  of  this  subsidy  was  "  to  complete,  equip, 
and  maintain  the  road  ".  The  legislature  also  authorized 
the  issue  in  like  manner  of  state  bonds,  to  seven  other  rail- 
way lines  partly  built  or  projected.  The  aid  to  be  granted 
varied  from  $10,000  to  $16,000  per  mile. 

And  now  Littlefield  becomes  the  controlling  figure 
in  the  two  reorganized  railway  systems  —  namely,  the 
"  Florida  Central  "  and  the  "  Jacksonville,  Pensacola,  and 
Mobile  ".  ^  He  obtained  from  Governor  Reed  $3,000,- 
000  of  state  bonds  for  the  latter  line,  and  $1,000,000  for 
the  former;  in  all  $4,000,000.*  In  exchange,  he  gave  the 
governor  a  like  amount  of  railroad  bonds.  With  the  state 
securities  in  his  possession,  Littlefield  left  for  New  York, 
and  the  final  move  in  fleecing  the  state  began. 

1  U.  S.  Rpts.,  I,  Otto,  p.  668— Fla.  vs.  Anderson.  Also  H.  Rpts.,  42nd 
C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  V.  I,  p.  344. 

*  R.  R.  Cos.  vs.  Schutte,  U.  S.  103,  p.  126.  The  form  of  the  State 
bond  was  as  follows :  "  It  is  hereby  certified  that  the  State  of  Florida 

justly  owes  to  ,  or  bearer,  one  thousand  dollars  redeemable  in 

gold  coin  of  the  United  States  at  the  Florida  State  agency  in  the  city 
of  New  York  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1900,  with  interest  thereon 
at  the  rate  of  8  per  cent  per  annum,  payable  half-yearly  at  the  said 
Florida  State  agency  in  gold  on  the  first  days  of  July  and  January  in 
each  year  from  the  date  of  this  bond  until  the  principal  be  paid  on  sur- 
rendering the  proper  coupons  hereto  annexed."     H.  Reed,  Gov. 

Tallahassee,  Jan.  i,  1870.  S.  B.  Conover,  Treas. 

(Great  Seal.) 

S|R.  R.  Cos.  vs.  Schutte,  passim;  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  284. 

*  R.  R.  Cos.  vs.  Schutte,  pp.  126,  129 ;  Fla.  vs.  Anderson,  p.  673 ;  State 
of  Florida  et  al.  vs.  Florida  Central  R.  R.,  et  al.,  Fla.  Rpts.,  v.  15,  p. 
692. 


662  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

He  put  the  bonds  into  the  hands  of  a  New  York  and 
London  brokerage  firm,  S.  W,  Hopkins  and  Co/     They 

were  taken  at  c«ice  to  London,  and  from  there  put  on  the 
market  in  Holland,  where  most  or  all  of  the  sales  appear  to 
have  been  made.  The  bonds  were  undoubtedly  steeped  in 
fraud  at  their  inception,  but  they  were  nevertheless  appar- 
ently State  bonds  on  the  market  in  a  foreign  country,  among 
a  people  largely  unacquainted  with  the  English  language,  and 
offering  tempting  inducements  by  reason  of  their  liberal  in- 
terest (8%)  to  those  who  were  seeking  investment.* 

The  $4,000,000  of  bonds  were  sold  for  about  70  cents  on 
the  dollar,  netting  some  $2,800,000 ;  ^  and  then  the  pro- 
ceeds of  this  sale,  instead  of  being  put  into  building  and 
bettering  the  railroads  in  Florida,  were  dissipated  in  a  most 
extraordinary  fashion. 

Only  $308,938  of  the  amount  were  even  nominally  ap- 
plied to  building  and  equipping  Florida  roads.  The  remain- 
ing two  and  a  half-millions  were  paid  to  a  multitude  of  per- 
sons and  corporations,  for  unspecified  or  foolish  services 
and  claims.  Littlefield  charged  to  the  fund  his  traveling 
expenses  while  in  England  as  agent — about  $24,000,  a 
round  sum  for  a  little  tour  of  a  few  months.  The  traveling 
expenses  of  certain  agents  of  Hopkins  and  Co.  came  from 
the  same  source — $6,216.  Bayne  and  Co.  of  London,  was 
paid  $200,000;  George  W.  Swepson,  of  North  Carolina, 
$50,000;  the  Western  Division  of  the  Western  Carolina 
Railroad  Co.,  $350,000;  the  "commissioners"  of  this  North 
Carolina  corporation,  $48,600;  Governor  Reed^  of  Flor- 
ida, $223,750;  and  so  on.     Only  $153,938  were  spent  for 

*  State  of  Florida,  et  al,  vs.  Fla.  Central  R.  R.,  et  al.,  pp.  690-732. 
'  R.  R,  Cos.  vs.  Schutte,  p.  132.    Opinion  of  Justice  Waite. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  i,  p.  342;  v.  13,  p.  250-1. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  663 

railway  iron,  and  about  the  same  amount  for  building 
nineteen  and  one-half  miles  of  road.^ 

"  The  report  of  Hopkins  and  Co.  is  a  remarkable  ex- 
posure for  the  people  of  this  state  who  are  expected  to  pay 
the  bonds  at  maturity,"  declared  the  Tallahassee  Sentinel 
in  October,  1871.  Whatever  had  really  happened,  whether 
the  proceeds  of  the  bond  sale  had  been  honestly  paid  to 
honest  claimants  or  stolen  for  debts  contracted  in  purchas- 
ing the  roads  and  bribing  the  legislature,  the  net  result  for 
the  state  was  the  same.  Its  public  debt  was  increased  $4,- 
000,000,  and  it  had  nothing  to  show  for  it.  In  final  analysis 
what  had  come  to  pass  was  this :  Littlefield  and  his  friends, 
working  in  harmony  with  a  band  of  respectable  thieves  in 
New  York  and  North  Carolina,  had  bought  with  depre- 
ciated bonds  and  a  worthless  check,  several  bankrupt  rail- 
way lines  from  the  Republican  administration,  and  then 
the  administration  had  bought  batk  these  lines  for  $4,000,- 
000.  The  state  officials  had  been  either  fools  or  knaves,  or 
both.  The  Republican  governor  of  Florida  finally  acknowl- 
edged the  disastrous  outcome  of  this  railway  transaction. 
"  It  appears,"  he  wrote,  "  that  the  bonds  of  the  company 
were  entrusted  to  one  of  the  firms  of  swindlers  who  abound 
in  New  York,  who  by  fraud  and  villany  have  diverted  the 
proceeds  from  the  work  for  which  issued."  ^ 

So  far  this  discussion  has  involved,  in  the  main,  the  ex- 
ecutive branch  of  the  government.  What  of  the  legisla- 
ture? It  has  been  charged  that  Reconstruction  legislators 
were  generally  incompetent  and  corrupt,  openly  and  scan- 
dalously subject  to  bribery,  and  guilty  with  Republican  ad- 
ministrators of  increasing  the  burdens  of  the  state.    Legis- 

'  "  Schedule  F,"  statement  of  Hopkins  &  Co.,—H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C, 
2nd  S.,  No.  22,  V.  13,  p.  250;  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  277-285;  Floridian, 
Feb.  25,  1873. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  i,  p.  163 — Governor's  Message 


664  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

lative  bodies  are  apt  to  fall  often  from  a  high  plane  of 
righteousness  and  fairness.  The  investigators  of  their 
actions  should  make  some  allowance,  for  a  certain  amount 
of  normal  badness.  Was  the  Florida  legislature  of  this 
period  abnormally  bad  ?  Certainly  the  bitter  political  strife 
South  threw  into  the  lime-light  the  short-comings  of  the 
ruling  party.  The  Conservative  was  inclined  to  ascribe  to 
sinister  motive  most  things  attempted  by  the  Republicans. 
He  mentioned  religiously  in  the  same  breath  Republicans 
and  sinners.  He  probably  forgot  that  ante-bellum  quar- 
rels between  Democrats  and  Whigs,  or  even  between  fac- 
tions of  the  Democratic  party,  had  produced  ugly  charges 
of  dishonesty,  of  a  deliberate  seeking  after  monopolistic 
control  of  the  state's  resources,  of  the  exploitation  of  the 
state's  credit  for  individual  or  partisan  ends.  Some  of 
these  charges  were  based  on  truth. 

In  reviewing  the  record  of  the  Reconstruction  period — 
however  unbiased  be  the  outlook — that  which  will  certainly 
impress  the  most  buoyant  investigator,  is  not  the  certain 
existence  of  partisan  politics,  but  rather  the  amount  and 
shameless  nature  of  corruption  in  handling  public  funds  or 
performing  a  public  trust.  Legislators  in  Florida  for  once 
were  openly  thrifty.  "  Voters  are  said  to  have  a  market 
value,"  has  written  a  Conservative  who  knew  well  the 
times.^  When  the  Republican  historian  of  the  Florida 
legislature  casually  wrote,  "  a  large  crowd  of  lobbyists  was 
on  hand,  as  usual,  to  aid  in  getting  through  corrupt  meas- 
ures," he  but  repeated  the  central  theme  of  his  Reconstruc- 
tion recollections.^ 

Bribery  was  open  and  shameless — so  much  so  that  Gov- 
ernor Reed  and  Governor  Hart  openly  condemned  mem- 

'  Herbert,  op.  cit,  p.  147. 
•  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  113. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  665 

bers  of  their  own  party/  while  the  Republican  legislature 
with  grotesque  insincerity  attempted  to  expel  one  governor 
for  accepting  bribes.^  The  legislature  had  sufficient  con- 
science left  to  pass  on  two  occasions  resolutions  condemn- 
ing this  practice  and  formally  calling  for  investigation.* 
Matters  came  to  such  a  pass  in  Tallahassee  that  the  grand 
jury  of  Leon  County  indicted  for  bribery  the  most  promi- 
nent lobbyist,  Littlefield,  two  state  senators,  and  a  member 
of  the  governor's  cabinet.*  One  senator,  Charles  Pearce. 
a  negro  Methodist  preacher,  was  expelled  from  the  senate, 
tried  in  the  circuit  court  and  found  guilty.  He  appealed 
to  the  state  supreme  court,  but  that  tribunal  sustained  the 
decision  of  the  lower  court.  Thereupon  Acting-Governor 
Day  pardoned  the  guilty  man  °  and  Reed  removed  the 
state's  attorney  who  was  prosecuting  him.®  Pearce  was  a 
locally  powerful  negro  leader.  His  escape  from  the  peniten- 
tiary indicated  that  political  reasons  were  in  the  way  of 
suppressing  that  evil  which  was  bringing  the  Republican 
administration  and  legislature  and  local  government  into 
disrepute  even  among  Republicans.  But  why  should  the 
governor  not  be  sympathetic  with  a  legislator  accused  of 
bribery?  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Republican  legis- 
lature formally  charged  the  governor  with  bribery  and 
tried  hard  to  remove  him. 

*  Message  of  Hart  discussing  bribery,  H.  Journal,  1873,  p.  44. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  160-66 — particularly  art.  8. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1873-4.  The  senate  appointed  a  committee  to  investigate 
acts  of  bribery  in  connection  with  the  election  of  Senator  Conover. 
The  committee  reported  that  it  "had  not  been  able  to  find  direct  proof 
of  bribery". 

*  Indictment,  County  Court  House,  Leon  Co.,  Florida. 
^  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  387. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42d  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  299;  Herbert,  op.  cit.,  pp. 
148-149. 


666  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Akin  to  bribery  was  the  ancient  practice  of  selling  offices. 
Those  who  did  the  trading  were  the  various  local  bosses — 
such  as  Purman  in  Jackson  County,  Billings  in  Nassau 
County,  Pearce  in  Leon  County,  Dennis  in  Alachua 
County,  Krimminger  in  Lafayette  County,  Stearns  in  Gads- 
den County,  Meacham  in  Jefferson  County,  etc.  The 
county  offices  were  appointive.  "  The  men  who  pay  the 
most  get  the  offices — the  judgeships  and  all  the  subordinate 
offices,  high  sheriffs,  commissioners,  etc./'  testified  a  dis- 
gruntled Republican.^  The  paying  in  such  cases  was  to 
the  boss.  The  governor  consulted  the  political  leader  of  the 
locality  whose  "  man  "  usually  "  got  in  ".  The  appointees 
seem  to  have  paid  portions  of  their  salaries  regularly  to 
the  boss.  Dennis  of  Alachua  County  is  said  to  have  re- 
quired the  signed  resignation  of  an  applicant  ere  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  office.  With  this  document  he  could  force  the 
delinquent  to  pay  up.  Governor  Reed  himself  was  accused 
of  receiving  money  for  appointments. 

A  very  insidious  form  of  purchasing  the  few  high-class 
prizes,  was  the  common  and  genteel  practice  of  contributing 
heavily  to  campaign  funds.  Abijah  Gilbert,  a  certain  rich 
man  of  St.  Augustine,  is  said  to  have  contributed  $10,000 
to  the  Republican  campaign  fund  before  he  was  elected  to 
the  United  States  Senate  by  the  legislature.^  "  They  came 
near  breaking  the  old  man,"  has  written  one  of  the  legis- 
lators. "  Men  who  came  to  the  capitol  with  scarcely  money 
enough  to  pay  their  fare  on  the  railroad  could  now  be  seen 
with  rolls  of  bills,  evidently  extracted  from  Gilbert."  ^ 

The  bad  legislation  which  bribery  produced  is  somewhat 
difficult  to  point  out  definitely  to-day.     Probably  the  worst 

'H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  243,  244. 
^  Ibid.,  pp.  244,  254. 
•  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  97. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  667 

acts  of  the  legislature  were  granting  extremely  favorable 
franchises  without  due  regard  for  the  reputations  of  the 
men  seeking  the  charters,  or  the  object  of  the  corporation, 
or  the  ultimate  cost  to  the  state;  the  reckless  authorization 
of  bonds  in  support  of  unbuilt  railroads ;  the  passage  of  too 
large  and  "  graft-laden  "  general  appropriation  bills ;  and 
the  enactment  of  laws,  partisan  in  intent,  which  made  more 
secure  the  position  of  the  Republican  party  in  Florida/  "  I 
think  the  legislature  has  been  reckless  in  making  an  appro- 
priation of  bonds  and  appropriating  money,"  testified  a  Re- 
publican judge  in  1871.^ 

What  should  be  borne  in  mind  is  the  obvious  fact,  that 
on  the  boards  of  directors  of  various  corporations  created 
by  the  state,  and  aided  by  the  state,  were  members  of  the 
legislature,  both  United  States  Senators  Osborn  and  Gil- 
bert, Lieutenant-Governor  Gleason,  and  Governor  Reed.^ 
The  Jacksonville  and  St.  Augustine  Railroad  Co.  of  which 
Governor  Reed  was  a  director  along  with  Littlefield  and 
Swepson,  was  authorized  to  receive  $640,000  from  the 
state. 

The  question  of  the  courts  under  Republican  rule  has 
been  dealt  with  in  a  foregoing  chapter.  State's  attorneys 
were  not  eager  to  unearth  the  wrong-doing  practiced  by 
members  of  their  party.  This  is  such  a  widespread  failing 
in  politics  that  it  calls  for  little  comment  here.     The  su- 

'  For  instance,  the  electoral  law  of  1868,  Laws  of  Fla.,  15th  Assembly, 
chap.  1625;  also  the  electoral  law  of  1870;  the  law  abolishing  the  state 
Canvassing  Board  of  1868,  and  the  law  which  put  the  state  printing 
and  advertising  in  the  hands  of  journals  favorable  to  the  administra- 
tion,   Herbert,  op.  cit.,  p.  144. 

*H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  218. 

'  Laws  of  Florida,  15th  Assembly,  chap.  1644 — organization  of  "  In- 
land Navigation  and  Improvement  Co.";  chap.  1645 — "Jack,  and  St. 
August.  R.  R.  Co." ;  chap.  165 1,  "  St.  Johns  and  Halifax  Navigation 
and  Improvement  Co.",  etc. 


668  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

preme  court  was  honest  and  creditably  sound  in  its  de- 
cisions. The  county  and  district  courts  managed  to  dis- 
pense justice  without  calling  forth  undue  complaint  from 
litigants.  Governor  Reed  declared  in  June,  1869,  "  that 
the  present  system  of  leaving  the  state  to  pay  for  criminal 
prosecutions  is  not  good.  It  means  that  law-abiding  coun- 
ties are  taxed  to  attend  to  crimes  in  other  localities.  Local 
officers  are  inclined  to  prefer  charges  on  frivolous  grounds 
just  for  the  profit  that  comes  from  the  fees."  ^  Many  of 
the  justices  of  the  peace  and  constables  in  the  counties  were 
negroes. 

The  state  judiciary  under  Republican  rule  was  better  than 
the  legislative  or  the  administrative  departments,  but  even 
Republican  judges  were  thrifty.  They  opposed  retrench- 
ment and  certain  reforms  proposed  by  the  legislature,  be- 
cause such  reforms  threatened  to  decrease  fees  collected  by 
officers  of  the  law.  The  statute  of  1870  to  "  decrease  the 
expenditures  of  the  state  and  to  regulate  the  fees  of  offi- 
cers "  was  declared  by  several  circuit  judges  to  be  uncon- 
stitutional because  it  had  been  passed  at  an  extra  session 
of  the  legislature.^  One  judge  overruled  the  operations 
of  the  law  in  his  circuit.  Governor  Reed  counseled  econ- 
omy. "  Now  is  the  time  to  begin  a  true  system  of  econ- 
omy," he  virtuously  wrote.  "  Reduce  the  fees  of  county 
clerks  and  judges."  But  when  the  legislature  reduced  his 
salary  by  the  amendment  of  1871  he  strongly  demurred.^ 
Republican  judges,  legislators,  and  executives  as  public 
men  did  not  object  to  the  idea  of  reform,  provided  the  re- 

'  Floridian,  June  15,  1869.  The  governor  claimed  that  the  cost  of 
criminal  prosecutions  due  to  the  activity  of  Democratic  regulators,  was 
a  heavy  expense  to  the  state,  in  1870  amounting  to  $58,408.59, — H.  Rpts., 
42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  22,  V.  I,  p.  164. 

'  An.  Cyclo.,  1871-2. 

»  Governor's  Message,  1872 ;  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  146. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  669 

form  did  not  injure  their  several  incomes.  Their  several 
attitudes  were  suggestive  of  the  Lion's  in  La  Fontaine's 
fable: 

"Je  me  devouerai  done,  s'il  le  faut;  mais  je  pense 
Qu'il  est  bon  que  chacun  s'accuse  ainsi  que  moi : 
Car  on  doit  souhaiter,  selon  toute  justice 
Que  le  plus  coupable  perisse." 

The  Republicans  in  Florida  sometimes  used  the  courts 
for  political  ends  and  not  juridical  ends.  The  justice  of  the 
Federal  district  court  of  Northern  Florida,  pliant  to  the 
needs  of  his  party,  adapted  his  court  orders  on  several  occa- 
sions to  the  political  situation.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
Judge  White,  of  Gadsden  County,  was  arrested  by  order  of 
this  official,  and  taken  to  Jacksonville  in  order  that  his 
injunction  might  be  disregarded  by  the  state  canvassing 
board.  In  1872  some  of  the  Alachua  County  canvassing 
board  were  taken  by  the  Federal  marshal  to  Jacksonville,  in 
order  that  the  vote  of  the  county  which  had  been  carried 
by  Democrats  might  be  thrown  out — to  the  advantage  of 
Republicans.  In  1874  two  Democratic  State  senators,  Mc- 
Caskill  and  Crawford,  were  summoned  by  this  court  to 
Jacksonville.  The  state  senate  at  Tallahassee  was  at  a  tie 
between  Democrats  and  Republicans,  and  the  absence  of 
McCaskill  and  Crawford  made  it  possible  for  the  senate  to 
unseat  two  undesirables — which  was  done.^  Such  action 
as  the  foregoing  needs  no  comment,  yet  it  was  the  Federal 
court  which  restrained  the  reckless  career  of  the  trustees  of 
the  Internal  Improvement  Fund  and  thereby  saved  millions 
of  acres  of  land  to  the  state. 

The  trustees  of  the  Internal  Improvement  Fund  were 

*  Herbert,  op.  cit.,  p.  165.  Pasco  refers  to  this  court  deliberately  aid- 
ing the  Republicans  in  a  local  election  in  Tallahassee  by  calling  a  num- 
ber of  Democratic  leaders  away  as  witnesses. 


670 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


the  legal  guardians  of  state  lands. ^  These  lands  constituted 
a  reserve  fund  for  making  good  the  interest  and  principal 
of  railway  bonds  guaranteed  by  the  state.  They  were 
therefore  lands  held  in  trust.  Yet  the  enterprising  Repub- 
lican administration,  immediately  on  assuming  the  reins  of 
government,  began  to  transfer  portions  of  trust  lands  to 
various  corporations — such,  for  instance,  as  the  Southern 
Inland  Navigation  and  Improvement  Company.^ 

The  prize  sought  was  not  really  land,  but  rather  the  tim- 
ber on  the  land.  In  March,  1870,  the  trustees  conveyed  to 
the  New  York  and  Florida  Lumber  Company  1,100,000 
acres  of  land.*    The  market  value  of  such  lands  then  was 


*  See  Internal  Improvement  Act,  Jan.  6,  1855.  For  interpretation  of 
Act  at  this  time  see  Un.  Trust  Co.  vs.  So.  Navigation  Co.,  U.  S.  Rpts., 
103.  P-  567 :  "  The  companies  after  completing  their  roads,  were  to  pay. 
besides  interest  on  their  bonds,  one  per  cent  per  annum  on  the  amount 
thereof  to  form  a  sinking  fund  for  the  ultimate  payment  of  the  prin- 
ciple. The  Act  declared,  that  the  bonds  should  constitute  a  first  lien 
or  mortgage  on  the  roads,  their  equipment  and  franchises,  and  upon 
a  failure  upon  the  part  of  any  railroad  company  accepting  the  Act  to 
provide  the  interest  and  the  payments  to  the  sinking  fund  as  required 
thereby,  it  was  made  the  duty  of  the  Trustees  to  take  possession  of 
the  railroad  and  all  its  property  and  advertise  the  same  for  sale  at 
public  auction." 

2  Un.  Trust  Co.  vs.  So.  Navigation  Co.,  U.  S.  Rpts.,  103.  On  Nov.  3, 
1870,  Francis  Vose,  of  Mass.,  brought  suit  in  the  Federal  Circuit  Court 
for  No.  Florida  against  the  Trustees  and  others  (Fla.  Canal  and  In- 
land Improvement  Transportation  Co.,  So.  In.  Navigation  Co.,  etc.), 
to  obtain  an  injunction  and  decree  "  protecting  the  Internal  Improve- 
ment Fund  against  waste  and  misappropriation  by  the  Trustees,  to  the 
injury  of  Vose  and  others  who  held  unpaid  bonds  issued  by  the  Florida 
iR.  R.  Co.  in  conformity  with  the  Act  of  1855.  The  bill  charged  that 
the  Trustees  had  violated  the  law  of  their  trust  by  misappropriating 
money  received  by  them,  leaving  unpaid  past-due  coupons,  by  neglect- 
ing to  collect  the  amount  due  the  sinking  fund  created  by  the  Act  of 
1855,  and  by  illegally  conveying  millions  of  acres  of  land  to  corpor- 
ations that  had  no  right  to  receive  them,"  etc. 

*  Un.  Trust  Co.  vs.  Inland  Nav.  Co.,  U.  S.,  103,  p.  568. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  67 1 

at  least  $1.25  per  acre.  To-day  it  is  selling  for  $25  per 
acre.  The  New  York  and  Florida  Lumber  Company  ob- 
tained it  for  ten  cents  per  acre,  paid  largely  with  depre- 
ciated scrip  bought  up  at  a  discount  of  50  per  cent  or  more.^ 
In  this  way  were  the  state's  resources  being  frittered  away 
into  the  hands  of  Northern  capitalists.'^  After  such  fashion 
were  the  Southern  people  robbed  of  a  goodly  portion  of 
their  birth-right  after  the  war.  Verily  the  Republican  ad- 
ministration was  following  a  course  which  would  fulfil 
Governor  Reed's  desire  "  to  induce  capitalists  to  enter  upon 
the  work  of  completing  Florida's  internal  improvement 
system  ". 

In  December,  1870,  nine  months  after  the  foregoing 
transfer  to  the  New  York  and  Florida  Lumber  Company, 
the  Federal  court  for  the  northern  district  of  Florida  is- 
sued an  injunction  against  the  trustees,  ordering  them  to 
desist  from  selling  trust  land  "  for  scrip  or  state  warrant 
of  any  kind,  or  for  aught  other  than  the  current  money  of 
the  United  States  "} 

The  trustees  were  evidently  little  impressed  with  the  in- 
junction of  a  Federal  court.  On  February  loth,  1871,  sixty 
days  after  the  injunction  was  issued,  they  transferred  to 
the  Southern  Inland  and  Navigation  Company  "  for,  and  in 
consideration  of  the  sum  of  $1  to  them  in  hand  paid  " 
(and  no  other  considerations)  1,360,600  acres  of  land;  and 
the  corporation  so  enriched  mortgaged  this  land  "  for  a  very 
large  amount".*  Who  got  the  money  for  the  mortgage? 
Evidently  the  state  did  not  receive  it.  The  most  influential 
members  of  the  state  trustees   (including  the  governor) 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  252. 

2  See  also  case  of  Trustees  vs.  Greenough,  U.  S.,  105,  pp.  528-532. 

3  Un.  Trust  Co.  vs.  So.  Nav.  Co.,  U.  S.,  103,  p.  568. 
^  Ibid.,  pp.  569-70. 


672  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

were  directors  in  this  Southern  Inland  and  Navigation 
Company.  Justice  Woods  of  the  Federal  district  court  for 
North  Florida  summoned  the  enjoined  trustees  to  answer 
for  contempt  of  court.  He  declared  the  conveyance  of  the 
land  void  and  put  the  Internal  Improvement  Fund  in  the 
hands  of  a  receiver  to  keep  it  from  the  hands  of  the  Re- 
publican government.  There  it  remained  until  after  the 
restoration  of  Democratic  rule.^ 

A  succinct  generalization  of  the  financial  results  of  Re- 
publican rule  is  contained  in  the  state  government's  formal 
financial  record.  Reckless  expenditure  and  increased  in- 
debtedness produced  a  sharp  rise  in  the  amount  of  taxes 
assessed  and  collected  by  the  state  and  local  governments. 
In  i860,  the  receipts  by  the  state  treasury  were  $115.- 
894.89;  in  1867,  $161,806.21;  in  1868  (the  first  year  of 
Republican  rule),  $223,433.67;  in   1869,  $347,097.12;  in 

1870,  $192,488.60;  in  1871,  $275,005.59;  in  1872,  $257,- 
233.54;   in    1873,   $664,405.81;   in    1874,   $401,679.68;   in 

1875,  $384,735.24;  in  1876  (the  last  year  of  Republican 
rule),  $286,280.58.' 

A  considerable  rise  was  experienced  also  in  the  govern- 
ment's expenditures,  exclusive  of  bond  issues.  In  i860,  it 
was  $117,808.85;  in  1867,  $187,667.63;  in  1868,  $234,- 
233.80;   in    1869,  $374,973-23;   in    1870,   $295,078.50;   in 

1871,  $410,491.19;  in  1872,  $304,214.35;  in  1873,  $536,- 
192.55;   in   1874,  $292,037.37;   in   1875,  $290,261.43;  in 

1876,  $260,187.19.' 

From  the  foregoing  it  is  seen,  that  for  the  first  four  years 
of  Republican  rule,   the  actual  expenditures  of  the  state 

government  ran  in  advance  of  receipts  $11,000  in   1868; 

» 

1  Herbert,  op.  cit.,  p.  152;  Un.  Trust  Co.  vs.  So.  Nav.  Co.,  U.  S.,  103, 

*  Herbert,  op.  cit.,  p.  143 ;  An.  Cyclo.,  1873-4. 

•  Herbert,  op.  cit.,  p.  143 ;  An.  Cyclo.,  1873-4. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  673 

$27,(X>o  in  1869;  $103,000  in  1870;  and  $47,000  in  1872/ 
From  1873  to  the  end  of  the  Republican  regime  in  1876,  re- 
ceipts amounted  to  more  than  expenditures,  and  expenditures 
declined  each  year  by  a  few  thousand  dollars.  Yet  during 
these  last  four  years  the  sum  total  of  expenditure  was  more 
than  $250,000  in  advance  of  the  total  expenditure  of 
Reed's  administration  (1868- 1872).  This  tendency  indi- 
cates that  the  financial  steadiness  of  the  state  government 
increased  toward  the  end  of  Republican  rule.  The  state 
was  made  to  yield  more  taxes. 

The  amount  of  taxes  assessed  was,  as  a  rule,  consid- 
erably in  advance  of  the  amount  collected.  Many  of  the 
tax-collectors  were  behind  in  their  accounts.  During  the 
year  1873  ^  large  amount  of  back  taxes  was  paid  in,  mak- 
ing the  funds  received  by  the  state  government  amount  to 
$664,405,  while  the  amount  assessed  for  this  year  was 
$422,994.  In  1874  the  assessed  taxation  was  $429,308, 
and  the  amount  collected,  $401,679;  in  1875,  $408,684  as- 
sessed and  $286,280  collected;  1876,  $380,858  assessed  and 
$286,280  collected.=^ 

A  significant  general  index  of  how  the  commonwealth 
taxpayers  were  faring  financially  at  the  hands  of  the  gov- 
ernment, is  furnished  by  the  movement  of  the  state  tax-rate. 
In  i860,  it  was  sixteen  and  two-thirds  cents  per  annum  on 
the  $100.^  The  emancipation  of  the  slaves  at  the  end  of 
the  war  produced  an  enormous  shrinkage  in  what  was  con- 
sidered personal  property.  According  to  the  Federal  census 
and  the  "  Ku  Klux  "  Committee  of  Congress,  the  total  value 
of  property  in  Florida  in  i860,  real  and  personal  (includ- 
ing slaves),  was  $68,929,685.     The  value  of  slaves  was 

'  Rpt.  Comptroller,  An.  Cyclo.,  1873-4. 

•  Herbert,  op.  cit.,  p.  168. 

*  Herbert,  op.  cit.,  p.  157. 


674  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

estimated  to  be  $21,610,750.^  Therefore,  about  one-third 
of  the  property  in  the  state  available  for  taxation  in  i860, 
was  lost  in  1865.  The  emancipated  did  not  at  once  become 
property-holders.  This  shrinkage  in  tangible  property  was 
accompanied  by  a  greater  demand  for  money  to  meet  the 
obligations  of  the  government,  with  the  consequent  rise  in 
tax-rate.  By  1867  it  had  risen  from  sixteen  and  two-thirds 
cents  to  fifty  cents  per  year  on  the  $100.  By  1872,  it  had 
risen  to  $1.37  on  the  $100.  This  estimate  is  exclusive  of 
municipal  and  county  taxes,  which  more  than  equaled  the 
state  rate.*  County  governments  were  absolutely  subject 
to  the  state  administration  in  Tallahassee. 

The  Republican  government,  in  order  more  effectually  to 
collect  taxes,  greatly  centralized  the  system  by  creating  the 
"  State  Equalization  Board  "  on  January  27th,  1871.'  Gov- 
ernor Reed  proposed  the  measure.  It  was  stoutly  opposed 
by  the  few  Democrats  in  the  state  legislature.  The  minor- 
ity of  the  senate  committee  that  reported  the  bill  stated 
that, 

the  ruthless  reign  of  the  late  war  disorganized  the  people,  the 
staid  denizens,  the  real  and  most  reliable  people  of  Florida; 
the  labor  of  the  country  is  neither  systematic  nor  reliable;  the 
current  crops  upon  which  the  success  and  support  of  the  people 
depend,  are  not  flattering ;  and  therefore  an  impartial,  patriotic, 
and  patient  investigation  has  produced  the  clearest  conscious- 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2n<i  S.,  no.  22,  v.  i,  p.  161. 

*  In  1871  county  taxes  were  estimated  to  be  about  $1.00  on  the  $100.00. 
An.  Cyclo.,  1871-72. 

•  Governor's  Messages,  Floridian,  Jan.  19,  June  9,  15,  1869.  Reed  dis- 
cussed at  length  the  question  of  taxation.  "  A  Board  of  State  Equali- 
zation, having  before  it  the  total  value  of  property  assessed  and  the 
average  value  per  acre  as  returned  for  each  coun'y,  should  apportion 
upon  equitable  principles,  the  amount  of  revenue  required  for  each 
county  necessary  to  defray  the  annual  current  expenses  of  the  State," 
etc. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  675 

ness  in  our  minds,  that  the  passage  of  the  bill  under  consid- 
eration would  result  in  widespread  and  irreparable  embarrass- 
ment to  the  people.^ 

By  the  creation  of  this  "Equalization  Board"  a  state  com- 
mittee was  given  the  authority  to  pronounce  on  the  value  of 
property  and  to  fix  the  rate  of  taxation  by  counties.^  On 
the  board  were  several  of  the  most  active  as  well  as  notor- 
ious Republican  leaders — namely,  W.  J.  Purman,  Liberty 
Billings,  and  William  H.  Gleason.  Many  property-holders 
among  Republicans  as  well  as  Democrats,  accused  them  and 
their  associates  on  the  board  of  fixing  the  rate  to  suit  their 
financial  operations  in  the  various  counties.^  The  state 
comptroller  in  1872  declared  the  board  to  be  "  an  entirely 
incompetent  body  ".*  However  questionable  might  have 
been  the  methods  of  these  tax-equalizers,  it  is  worthy  of 
notice  that  following  the  establishment  of  the  "Equalization 
Board",  the  receipts  of  taxes  by  the  state  treasury  increased. 
The  government  obtained  more  money  from  the  people,  and 
the  people  who  paid  taxes  were  soon  aroused  to  united 
protest." 

*  Senate  Proceedings,  session  June  9,  l86g,  Floridian,  June  15,  1869. 

*  The  Board  was  composed  of  8  members,  3  appointed  by  the  presi- 
dent of  the  senate  and  5  by  the  speaker  of  the  house,  An.  Cyclo., 
1 87 1 -2. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  209,  etc. 

*  Comptroller's  Report,  1872. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  i,  p.  342.  The  minority  of  the 
House  committee  summed-up  the  taxation  grievances  of  the  people  of 
Florida  as  follows :  i.  The  law  which  placed  the  immense  power  of 
taxation  in  the  hands  of  a  few  men  (the  Equalization  Board)  unac- 
quainted with  the  character  and  value  of  the  property,  except  in  the 
immediate  vicinity.  2.  A  tax  ra'e  imposed  on  an  assumed  valuation  of 
property  which  is  without  a  parallel  in  any  other  State  and  which  can- 
not be  borne  without  great  distress,  etc.  3.  The  forcing  of  people  to 
pay  taxes  to  meet   appropriations  which   are  not  necessary.     4.   The 


(^y^)  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

A  manifestation  of  dissatisfaction  was  the  meeting  of 
the  "  Tax-Payers  Convention  "  in  Lake  City  in  September, 
1871.  "  Both  Republicans  and  Democrats,  colored  men 
and  white  men,  men  of  all  classes  and  grades  and  politics 
came  there  ",  states  a  Republican  Federal  judge  who  took 
part.^  The  convention  affirmed  that  "  the  deplorable  con- 
dition of  state  as  well  as  county  finances  and  affairs  is  a 
consequence  of  the  loose  and  reckless  legislation  of  men 
formed  into  governing  cliques — '  rings  and  caucuses ', 
banded  to  sustain  such  organizations,  independent  and  de- 
structive of  the  principles  of  free  American  government."  * 

The  tax  situation  in  Florida  was  in  truth  not  a  happy  one. 
The  value  of  real  and  personal  property  (exclusive  of 
slaves)  had  shrunken  from  $47,000,000  in  i860,  to  $34,- 
000,000  in  1870,^  and  the  critics  of  the  Republican  admin- 
istration claimed  that  the  latter  figure  was  "  an  arbitrary 
and  raised  valuation."  Of  this  amount  approximately  $11,- 
700,000  was  personal  property,  and,  because  of  local  con- 
ditions, practically  the  only  property  available  for  meeting 
the  tax  levies.  Certainly  we  are  confronted  with  a  startling 
reduction  in  the  declared  value  of  personal  property. 

paying  out  to  people  of  two  descriptions  of  obligations  or  scrip,  one 
of  which  is  received  by  the  State  while  the  other  is  repudiated  for 
public  dues.  5.  In  leaving  nothing  exempt  from  sale  for  taxes.  6.  In 
the  provision  of  the  law  which  permits  the  collection  of  the  entire  tax 
from  the  personal  property  of  citizens.  7.  In  exacting  this  large  tax 
at  a  time  when  it  is  unnecessary  for  the  due  administration  of  the 
state  government. 

^  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  208 — ^Judge  T.  T.  Long 
before  "  Ku  Klux"  committee.    Also  pp.  214,  215,  219,  244,  245. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  208 — preamble  of  Convention's  resolutions. 

•  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  i,  p.  162. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  677 

County  186/  1870  1873  1875 

Jackson $667,361  $544,940  $495,400  $415,912 

Jefferson   816,858  753.302  506,325  4i5.5ia 

Madison    493.195  446,256  372,647  363.478 

Marion    694,291  539.489  5I5.I43  444,347 

Alachua    750,944  542,674  317.422  348.349 

Gadsden    835,666  493,848  392,805  338,760 

Leon    1,260,820  945,623  903,088  662,884 1 

These  seven  counties  were  the  richest  and  most  popu- 
lous of  the  state.  The  tax  rate  increased;  the  taxpayers 
soon  found  themselves  financially  hard  pressed;  and  the 
amount  of  personal  property  accordingly  perceptibly  dimin- 
ished. The  regime  of  greater  personally  liberty  which 
came  as  a  result  of  the  Civil  War  was  not  without  accom- 
panying expense.  Montesquieu's  conception  of  the  ulti- 
mate relationship  between  liberty  and  taxes,  if  not  con- 
strued too  literally,  tends  to  fit  the  case  of  Florida.  "  Lib- 
erty ",  he  says,  "  produces  excessive  taxes ;  the  effect  of  ex- 
cessive taxes  is  slavery ;  and  slavery  produces  a  diminution 
of  tribute."  ^  Before  the  end  of  Radical  rule  the  value  of 
property  in  Florida  had  declined.  The  government  was 
facing  a  "  diminution  of  tribute." 

Opposition  to  paying  taxes  continued  and  became  violent 
in  some  sections.  In  November,  1871  the  governor  issued 
a  proclamation  openly  charging  that  men  of  influence  were 
striving  to  bring  the  state  laws  into  contempt,  to  discoun- 
tenance the  state  government,  and  to  initiate  civil  com- 
motion "  by  taking  advantage  of  a  partial  failure  in  the 
cotton  crop  and  consequent  monetary  stringency  to  encour- 
age seditious  sentiments.  He  called  on  all  citizens  *  to  for- 
get the  rancor  and  hate  of  the  past '  and  unite  for  the  public 
good  ",  but  he  closed  with  the  statement,  that  the  laws 
would  be  enforced  and  the  taxes  must  be  paid.' 

'  Herbert,  op.  cit.,  p.  i66.  *  I'Esprit  des  Lois,  bk.  13,  chap.  15. 

•  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Florida,  v.  2,  p.  321,  Governor's  Message. 


678  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Opposition  to  the  government  was  strengthened  by  the 
steady  disclosure  of  outrageous  grafting — sometimes  petty 
and  sometimes  great.  Government  officials,  including  tax- 
assessors  and  collectors,  traded  in  foreclosed  lands,  state 
scrip,  county  bonds  and  stocks.  The  cost  to  the  state  of 
such  proceedings  added  to  the  burden  of  public  indebted- 
ness and  general  discontent.  The  collection  of  state  and 
county  taxes  was  particularly  productive  of  graft.  In 
1872  Governor  Hart  announced  that  $598,000  in  taxes  had 
not  reached  the  state  treasury.  He,  a  Republican  governor, 
charged  his  Republican  tax-collectors  with  substituting 
scrip  for  money  collected  and  falsely  swearing  that  these 
identical  warrants  had  been  received.^  Scrip  was  worth 
anywhere  from  30  to  50  cents  on  the  dollar.  "  You  can 
have  my  scrip  for  $.30  on  the  dollar  ",  stated  Judge  Long 
(Republican)  in  November,  1871.  "That  is  the  most  I 
have  got  for  it  this  year  ".*  In  thus  returning  scrip  and 
withholding  currency  with  which  some  taxes  were  paid,  the 
tax-collectors  were  charged  by  the  governor  with  "  setting 
at  defiance  the  criminal  code,  cheating  and  thieving  the 
public  for  the  purpose  of  pocketing  the  difference  ".* 

Some  of  the  collectors  were  as  much  as  $40,000  behind  in 
their  accounts.  They  were  accused,  even  by  fellow  Re- 
publicans, of  profiting  by  the  use  of  these  state  and  county 
funds.  "  For  four  years  ",  declared  a  prominent  Republi- 
can property-holder  to  a  Republican  committee  of  Congress, 
"  they  have  been  buying  scrip  to  pay  into  the  Treasury  at 
40  or  50  cents  on  the  $1.00.  Some  are  loaning  money  at 
three  per  cent  a  month.  There  are  men  here  living  like 
millionaires,  getting  only  $50  a  month  to  my  knowledge  ".'' 

^  H.  Jourtial,  1873,  P-  4^- 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42d  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  212. 

*  H.  Journal,  1873,  p.  41. 

*  H.  Rpts'^,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  pp.  243,  244,  246. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  679 

The  issue  of  scrip  by  the  state  and  county  governments 
in  paying  their  bills,  put  into  circulation  a  medium  which 
thus  encouraged  speculation  and  graft  and  enormously  de- 
creased the  revenues  of  the  state.  Governor  Reed  had  seen 
this  danger.  In  his  first  message  to  the  legislature,  he 
earnestly  advised  a  "  cash  basis  ",  claiming  that  from  25 
to  50  per  cent  could  be  saved  and  the  state  securities  put 
at  par.^  But  actual  conditions  proved  more  powerful  in 
shaping  the  government's  policy  than  theory  of  what  was 
best.  The  government  had  little  money.  In  lieu  thereof  it 
issued  scrip  to  meet  the  deficiency,  and  its  credit  was  in  turn 
depressed  while  its  debt  mounted.^ 

Tlie  public  debt  in  1866  was  $638,681.  By  July  1868  it 
was  reduced  to  $523,856.95,  but  by  January,  1869,  it  had 
risen  to  $1,011,756.00.  Two  years  later,  January,  1871, 
it  stood  at  $5,288,697,76;  and  in  January,  1872,  it  stood 
at  $5,311,469.97;  in  January,  1874  it  reached  the  highest 
point  during  the  Republican  regime,  $5,620,809.55.  The 
state  debt  was  increased  under  Republican  rule  about  900 
per  cent  in  eight  years.^ 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1870-71. 

•  Floridian,  June  15,  1869.  Gov.  Reed  in  his  message  of  June  9th 
stated  that,  "  scrip  encourages  speculation,  hurts  the  State's  credit,  and 
causes  those  people  who  do  things  for  the  State  to  charge  the  State 
more  than  if  they  were  paid.  Thus  there  is  a  continuous  and  ever- 
increasing  expense." 

An.  Cyclo.,  1870-71,  states  that,  "the  peculiar  feature  of  the  financial 
system  of  Florida  seems  to  be  that  the  medium  most  used  in  making 
payments  by  the  state,  as  well  as  by  the  people  of  all  classes  and  for 
all  purposes,  consists  in  treasury  certificates  of  various  descriptions. 

Most  of  what  was  designated  "  floating  debt "  was  contracted  by  issue 
of  "scrip"  (Treas.  warrants  and  certificates).  On  Jan.  i,  1870,  it  was 
$151,825.32;  on  Jan.  i,  1871,  $276,325.28;  Jan.  i,  1872,  $563,524.89.  In 
1868,  when  the  Republicans  took  control  of  the  state,  the  floating  debt 
was  only  $57,492.32.    See  Comptroller's  Report,  1872. 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  i,  p.  343.    An.  Cyclo.,  1868-69- 


68o  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Most  of  this  debt  was  bonded.  The  total  amount  of 
bonds  issued  by  the  government  from  1868  to  1876,  ex- 
clusive of  railway  guarantee  bonds,  was  $i,85o>ooo-  In 
1868,  $300,000  6  per  cent  bonds  were  authorized;  in  1869, 
$200,000  6  per  cent  bonds  ;^  in  1871,  $350,000  7  per  cent 
bonds;  and  finally  in  1873  came  the  most  important  fiscal 
measure  of  the  last  Republican  administration,  namely,  the 
Funding  Act.^  By  it  $1,000,000  of  6  per  cent  thirty  year 
bonds  were  authorized,  and  a  special  property  tax  of  four 
mills  on  the  dollar,  was  levied  for  the  interest  and  sinking 
fund  of  this  issue.  These  bonds  of  1873  were  meant  to 
fund  the  warrants  and  treasury  certificates  outstanding, 
and  to  redeem  State  bonds  held  in  hypothecation.  A  salu- 
tary effect  of  the  Funding  Act  was  the  introduction  of  some 
order,  in  the  chaotic  condition  of  the  government's  finances. 
The  first  two  bond  issues — $300,000  in  1868  and  $200,000 
in  1869 — were  mostly  hypothecated.  $100,000  (face  value) 
of  them  were  sold.  The  other  $400,000  were  hypothecated 
in  various  amounts  for  a  total  of  about  $135,000  cash.  The 
bonds  of  1871  ($350,000)  were  all  sold.' 

Where  did  the  money  go  which  was  received  from  col- 
lecting taxes,  selling  state  lands,  and  selling  state  securi- 
ties? The  debt  increased.  A  public  debt  might  be 
a  "  public  blessing  ",  and  is  not  in  itself  necessarily  indi- 
cative of  a  bad  government.  But  it  is  a  truism  that  a  gov- 
ernment wisely  administered  should  give  to  the  taxpayers 
the  equivalent  in  service  and  safety  for  the  taxes  collected — 

70-71-72-73-74-75.     Cox,  Three  Decades  of  Federal  Legislation,  p.  524, 
presents  different  figures  and   concludes  that  the  "  prospective "   and 
contingent  liabilities  of  the  state  in  1872  amounted  to  $17,588,287. 
'  Laivs  of  Florida,  1869,  chap.  1701. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1871-72-73-74. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1868-75.    Plo-  Rpts.,  v.  14  (1874),  Cheney  and  wife  vs. 
Jones,  pp.  589-620,  regarding  constitutionality  of  bond  issues. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  68 1 

roads,  bridges,  public  buildings,  asylums  for  the  helpless, 
police  protection,  schools,  hospitals,  etc.  Writing  for  men 
of  an  earlier  generation  and  a  different  land  Montesquieu 
never  presented  a  political  fundamental  more  clearly  than 
when  he  undertook  to  discuss  the  public  revenue.  The  ex- 
perience of  Florida  vitalizes  the  Frenchman's  conclusion. 
"  The  public  revenues  ",  he  wrote, 

are  a  portion  that  each  subject  gives  of  his  property  in  order 
to  secure  and  enjoy  the  remainder.  To  fix  these  revenues  in 
a  proper  manner  regard  should  be  had  both  for  the  necessities 
of  the  State  and  those  of  the  subject.  The  real  wants  of  the 
people  ought  never  give  way  to  the  imaginary  wants  of  the 
State.  Imaginary  wants  are  those  which  flow  from  the  pas- 
sions and  weakness  of  the  governors.^ 

The  passing  years  witnessed  a  very  inadequate  return  to  the 
people  of  Florida  for  the  money  expended.  The  grand  jury 
presentments  of  the  various  counties  indicate  an  execrable 
condition  of  public  roads.^  The  county  court  houses  became 
seedier  and  dirtier  each  year.  The  state  and  county  archives 
for  the  Reconstruction  period  are  in  an  abominable  condition. 
The  state  prison  was  reorganized  by  an  elaborate  and  wise 
law,  but  what  went  on  there  was  scandalous.'  A  Republi- 
can member  of  the  legislature  who  took  part  in  investigat- 
ing the  prison,  concluded  that  the  warden,  a  carpet-bagger, 
"  made  thousands  of  dollars  for  himself  out  of  the  prisoners, 
while  the  state  lost  thousands  by  his  management."  * 

"  There  are  no  improvements  here ",  declared  an  irate 

*  L'Esprit  des  Lois,  bk.  13,  chap.  I. 

*  Grand  Jury  Presentments  for  counties  of  Central  Florida:  Leon, 
Jackson,  Wakulla,  Gadsden,  Jefferson.  These  records  are  very  incom- 
plete and  fragmentary  but  enough  remains  to  indicate  a  general  truth. 

^  Laws  of  Fla.,  1868,  chap.  1635. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  249. 


682  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Republican  from  the  North  living  in  Leon  County — "  no 
court  house  and  no  jail  fit  to  put  a  hog  in  "/  When  asked 
if  there  was  a  poorhouse  in  the  county  he  answered: 
"  There  is  a  place  in  the  city  that  is  nasty,  filthy,  hot,  and 
everything  else.  It  was  said  before  Judge  Long's  court  that 
men  there  were  rotting  with  lice  and  filth  because  the  county 
would  not  do  anything."  ^  Railroads  were  built  and  re- 
paired very  slowly,  although  the  state  extended  heavy  aid. 
Honest  capital,  the  most  timid  of  all  commodities,  avoided 
the  state.  "People  who  have  money  and  can  live  where  they 
please  are  not  coming  here  to  support  such  a  gang  ",  de- 
clared a  Republican  property-holder.^ 

Mr.  Pasco's  rather  depressing  conclusion,  gained  partly 
from  personal  experience  as  a  citizen  of  Florida,  seems  an 
historically  sound  one.     He  says : 

No  public  buildings,  no  institutions  for  the  unfortunate,  no 
colleges,  normal  schools,  or  seminaries  were  built  or  aided  from 
the  State  treasury  during  this  period.  The  school  system, 
though  liberally  supported  by  taxation,  had  disappointed  the 
reasonable  expectations  of  the  people.  Crime  had  gone  un- 
punished. Property  was  unsafe.  Farmers  almost  abandoned 
the  effort  to  raise  meat  because  of  the  constant  depredations 
upon  their  stock.  Many  of  the  magistrates  were  incompetent, 
some  were  notoriously  corrupt,  and  thieves  and  depredators 
were  not  seriously  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  a  conviction  be- 
fore a  negro  jury.* 

While  the  general  record  of  Republican  legislation  and 
administration  was  disastrous  for  the  state,  yet  many  meas- 
ures were  meant  honestly  and  were  wise.     For  example, 

'  H.  Rpts.,  42nd  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  22,  v.  13,  p.  242. 

•  Ihid.,  p.  246. 

•  Ibid.,  p.  244. 

•  Herbert,  op.  cit.,  p.  166. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  683 

the  school  law  of  1869  was  not  bad;  ^  the  law  of  1871,  con- 
cerning defaulting  insurance  companies,  was  meant  to  pro- 
tect the  interest  of  the  individual  citizen;  and  the  law  of 
1870,  to  "  decrease  expenditures  of  the  State  and  to  regu- 
late fees  of  officers,"  was  certainly  a  step  toward  a  sound 
reform  and  retrenchment.^  In  establishing  and  maintain- 
ing public  schools,  the  Republican  administration  was  do- 
ing fair  work,  although  the  Conservative  property-holders 
were  paying  the  bills. 

The  field  for  primary  education  in  Florida  was  virgin. 
71,000  inhabitants  over  ten  years  of  age  were  denominated 
illiterate;  18,000  of  them  were  white.'  The  total  popula- 
tion of  the  State  was  less  than  200,000.  By  the  end  of  the 
first  year  of  Republican  rule  (1869),  250  public  schools 
were  in  operation  with  7,575  pupils  enrolled  from  the  ap- 
proximately 60,000  children  of  school  age, — white  and 
black.*  By  the  end  of  the  second  year  (1870),  331  schools 
were  open  with  14,000  pupils  in  attendance,  one-third  of 
whom  were  negroes.  The  amount  expended  by  the  state 
during  this  year  was  $70,284.°  Three  years  later  the  num- 
ber of  pupils  enrolled  was  19,610  and  the  expenditure 
$111,389. 

"  Men  bitterly  opposed  to  the  school  system  a  few  years 
ago,  regarding  it  as  a  political  hobby  to  be  used  for  party 
purposes  ",  stated  the  negro  superintendent  of  public  in- 
struction, J.  C.  Gibbs,  "  now  see  the  necessity  of  edu- 
cating the  masses  and  willingly  co-operate  in  school  work."  ® 

*  Laws   of   Florida,    1869;    see   shrewd   analysis   of    law,   Floridian, 
March  30,  1869. 

'  An.  Cyclo.,  1871-2. 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  42nd  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  i,  pt.  s   (Rpt.  Sect.  Int.),  p.  61. 

*  H.  Ex.  Docs.,  41st  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  i,  pt.  4,  pp.  105-8. 
» Ibid.,  pt.  5,  p.  58. 

*  Ibid.,  I  St  Sess.,  no.  i,  p.  65. 


684  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Practically  every  county  levied  a  school  tax  and  in  addition 
the  state  government  collected  a  yearly  mill  tax  for  public 
instruction.  In  1876  when  the  Republicans  were  driven 
from  power  676  public  schools  were  established  with  28,444 
pupils,  black  and  white,  enrolled — the  expenditure  for  that 
year  being  $158,846.36.  The  school  terms  were  short 
(under  six  months),  the  teachers  poorly  trained,  if  trained 
at  all,  and  the  buildings  crude.  Practically  all  of  the 
money  expended  for  public  instruction  was  collected  from 
Southern  whites,  who  as  Conservatives  were  allowed  little 
voice  in  directing  the  school  system  which  they  supported. 

The  eight  years  of  the  Republican  party's  lease  of  power 
in  Florida  were  not  happy  ones  for  the  state.  Undoubtedly 
the  reorganized  government  in  1868  faced  a  difficult  situ- 
ation. The  state  had  pressing  need  in  1868  of  a  careful 
and  honest  government  to  help  society  regain  its  strength. 
The  government  did  not  perform  any  such  valuable  func- 
tion. In  explaining  failures  the  Republicans  were  prone  to 
the  exaggeration  of  initial  difficulties.  "  We  received  the 
high  trust  now  held  by  us  with  the  State  desolated  by  seven 
years  of  anarchy  and  misrule  ",  wrote  Governor  Reed  in 
1870, 

with  an  empty  treasury,  with  $600,000  acknowledged  debt,  and 
a  much  larger  amount  repudiated  and  hanging  like  a  cloud 
upon  our  financial  escutcheon,  with  bonds  dishonored  by  years 
of  neglected  interest,  with  a  school  fund  robbed  of  its  last 
dollar  to  aid  in  a  war  upon  the  republic,  with  a  railroad  sys- 
tem half  completed,  bankrupted,  and  at  the  mercy  of  an  ad- 
joining State,  with  revenue  laws  inadequate  to  the  current  ex- 
penses of  the  government,  and  which  contemplated  no  payment 
of  interest  upon  the  State  debt ;  with  no  schools  or  school  sys- 
tem ;  no  benevolent  institutions,  no  alms-houses,  no  penitentiary 
and  scarcely  a  jail.  Such  was  the  inheritance  bequeathed  to 
us  [Republicans]  by  the  fortunes  of  war.^ 

*  Herbert,  op,  cit    p.  167. 


THE  RECORD  OF  REPUBLICAN  RULE  685 

The  governor's  statements  were  either  palpable  mis- 
statements or  half-truths  or  irrelevant.  They  do  not  ex- 
plain why  the  public  debt  increased  enormously  during  the 
Republican  administration;  why  the  state  was  robbed  of 
valuable  resources  in  land,  timber,  and  franchises ;  why  Re- 
construction jails  and  alms-houses  were  gruesome  jokes; 
why  bloodly  lawlessness  increased;  why  prosperity  lan- 
guished while  bribery  and  ballot  box  stuffing  become  the 
order  of  the  day.  The  failure  of  the  Republican  govern- 
ment was  hardly  due  to  the  poverty  of  the  state  and  the 
bitter  opposition  of  disgruntled  Southern  whites.  It  was 
the  failure  incident  to  the  operations  of  a  lot  of  self-seeking, 
reckless,  shrewd,  and  grafting  politicians,  who  were  in  local 
politics  for  all  they  could  squeeze  out  of  it,  who  controlled, 
by  fair  means  or  foul,  the  ignorant  and  often  vicious  negro 
majorities  and  therefore  controlled  the  government  and 
therefore  the  public  purse-strings.  Florida's  sorrow  was 
the  inevitable  result  of  the  bad  national  legislation  of  1867. 
Congressional  reconstruction,  wrought  under  these  laws  of 
a  national  government,  put  people  in  control  of  local  gov- 
ernment and  therefore  taxation  who  had  little  property  in 
Florida  or  out  of  Florida.  Those  in  control  saw  fit  to 
levy  heavy  taxes  and  burden  the  state  with  heavy  debt. 
Why  not  ?  they  might  have  reasoned ;  they  did  not  pay  the 
taxes.  The  final  and  future  incidence  of  such  taxes  did  not 
disturb  them  because  they  either  did  not  understand  the 
question  or  did  not  care.  "  Those  who  pay  no  taxes  ", 
says  John  Stuart  Mill,  "  disposing  by  their  votes  of  other 
people's  money,  have  every  motive  to  be  lavish  and  none  to 
economize  ".  The  truth  of  this  is  obvious.  "As  far  as 
money  matters  are  concerned  ",  continues  Mill, 

any  power  of  voting  possessed  by  them  is  a  violation  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  free  government,  a  severance  of  the 
power  of  control  from  the  interest  in  its  beneficial  exercise. 


686  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

It  amounts  to  allowing  them  to  put  their  hands  into  other 
people's  pockets  for  any  purpose  which  they  see  fit  to  call  a 
public  one,  which  in  the  great  towns  of  the  United  States  is 
known  to  have  produced  a  scale  of  local  taxation  onerous 
beyond  example.^ 

The  truth  of  this  latter  observation  is  open  to  question,  but 
Mr.  Mill  might  have  chosen  Reconstruction  government  in 
the  United  States  to  drive  home  the  principle  which  he  here 
sets  forth. 

^  Representative  Government,  p.  176. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 
The  Election  of  1876 

The  election  of  1876  in  Florida  being  the  logical  product 
of  Reconstruction  politics  was  very  ugly.  It  was,  in  fact, 
the  bitter  developed  fruit  of  eight  gnarled  and  twisted 
years.  Every  important  incident  and  issue  and  condition  in 
the  campaign  and  the  aftermath  was  foreshadowed  in  the 
experiences  of  these  eight  years.  It  would  have  been  very 
strange  if  politics  in  Florida  in  1876  had  been  clean  and 
straight.  "  Do  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs  of 
thistles  ?  "  Things  as  they  were,  though  ugly,  had  about 
them  the  eternal  quality  of  fitness;  for,  as  Edmund  Burke 
once  put  it,  "  though  ugliness  be  the  opposite  to  beauty,  it  is 
not  the  opposite  to  proportion  and  fitness  ".^  Florida's 
electorate  was  well  trained  by  sad  experience  for  this  dis- 
graceful finale  of  Reconstruction  and  Radical  rule. 

The  campaign  was  to  prove  the  most  memorable  since 
the  autumn  canvass  of  i860  preceding  secession.  Then 
the  radical  Democratic  party  which  controlled  the  local  gov- 
ernment had  controlled  the  elections  and  amid  hosannas  had 
swept  the  state  out  of  the  Union.  In  1876  the  radical 
Republican  party  which  controlled  the  local  government 
lost  the  elections  and  amid  bitter  recrimination  was  swept 
permanently  from  power,  i860  inaugurated  the  revolution 
which  1876  closed.  During  these  sixteen  eventful  years — 
the  most  strenuous  in  our  national  history — the  political 
pendulum  swung  back  and  forth  from  active  revolution  to 

*  Burke,  An  Essay  on  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful. 

687 


688  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

revolutionary  reaction — and  each  time  Florida  was  the 
poorer.  There  is  small  virtue  in  abrupt  change  of  the  con- 
stitution, particularly  with  a  powerful  ignorant  electorate 
dictating  it  or  opposing  it.  This  commonwealth's  experi- 
ence demonstrated  Walter  Bagehot's  conclusion  that  amid 
a  primitive  electorate  "  most  change  is  an  evil  "  in  itself. 

Early  in  February,  1876,  the  Democratic  state  executive 
committee  issued  a  call  for  the  "  Conservative  State  Con- 
vention "  to  assemble  in  Quincy  on  June  2ist.^  The  call 
opened  "  the  memorable  campaign  ".  The  Conservative 
committee  in  taking  this  step  acted  a  month  ahead  of  its 
Radical  contemporary.  Among  Southern  whites  in  Flor- 
ida political  hopes  were  mounting  high.  Such  sentiment 
moved  over  the  entire  South  like  a  great  ground  swell 
which  presages  some  storm.  "  The  exciting  prospect  of 
escape  from  the  clutch  of  a  hostile  national  administra- 
tion," states  Professor  Dunning,  '*  set  the  hearts  of  the 
whites  throbbing  wildly  from  the  Potomac  to  the  Rio 
Grande  '\' 

The  expected  representation  in  the  Conservative  conven- 
tion was  published  by  the  committee  issuing  the  call.  One 
hundred  and  seventeen  delegates  were  apportioned  among 
the  thirty-nine  counties.  County  conventions  would  choose 
the  delegations.  The  local  Conservative  party  was  in  fairly 
compact  and  efficient  shape.  It  had  not  been  always  thus. 
The  change  had  been  wrought  slowly  amid  defeats  and  the 
dirty  but  illuminating  conditions  of  Reconstruction  politics. 
Experience  is  a  hard,  merciless,  but  withal  logical  teacher. 
The  green-horn  leaders  of  1868  were  veterans  in  1876. 
Some  were  unscrupulous  past-masters  in  the  cunning  and 
demoralizing  art  of  combating  rascality  and  crushing  num- 
bers by  counter  rascality. 

'  Floridian,  Feb.  15,  1876. 

'  Reconst.  Polit.  and  Ec,  p.  303. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1876  689 

The  Republican  executive  committee  issued  a  call  on  the 
17th  of  March  for  a  state  convention  to  assemble  on  the 
31st  of  May.^  It  was  soon  patent  to  even  the  casual  ob- 
server that  the  contest  for  nominations  would  be  sharp. 
Congressman  W.  J.  Purman  and  United  States  Senator  S. 
B.  Conover,  both  termed  "  carpet-baggers  ",  headed  factions 
in  Florida  which  bitterly  assailed  the  public  career  as  well  as 
the  private  character  of  Governor  Stearns.^  Stearns  was 
the  reputed  leader  of  the  Republican  "  ring "  profiting 
financially  from  public  land  deals,  railroad  bond  issues,  and 
tax  receipts.  The  Democrats  magnified  and  advertised  in 
their  journals  and  on  the  stump  the  trouble  within  the 
Radical  party. 

The  Republican  state  convention  assembled  at  Madison 
on  May  31st.  "  From  the  issuance  of  the  call  for  the  con- 
vention until  and  during  its  riotous  sessions,"  states  John 
Wallace,  Republican,  "  whiskey  was  the  strongest  argument 
used  to  demoralize  the  colored  people,  with  now  and  then  a 
little  money  thrown  in  to  keep  up  the  hired  loafers,  who  did 
nothing  but  follow  up  white  carpet-bag  ballot-box  stuffers 
and  halloo  themselves  hoarse  for  Stearns."  ^ 

For  the  first  three  days  out  of  a  four  days'  session  the 
convention  was  engaged  in  a  bitter  factional  contest.  Gov- 
ernor Stearns  was  desperately  opposed  by  the  friends  of 
Senator  Conover  and  Congressman  Purman.  These  two 
men  were  the  reputed  leaders  of  reform  within  the  local 
Republican  party.  Just  what  shape  reform  would  take  is 
not  clear,  and  probably  was  not  clear  then.  Governor 
Stearns  had  arranged  for  his  own  renomination.     He  had 

^  An.  Cyclo.,  1876. 

'  Floridian,    March    28,    1876;    also    letter    of    Purman    published    in 
Floridian,  Sept.  26,  1876;  and  Cong.  Record,  March  8,  1876. 

•  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  329. 


690  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

called  the  "  members  of  the  ring  together  in  Jacksonville  " 
before  the  assembling  of  the  Madison  convention,  and  at 
this  pre-convention  caucus  it  had  been  determined  that  he 
should  be  the  Republican  gubernatorial  candidate/ 

The  organization  which  managed  to  dictate  to  the  Madi- 
son convention  was  the  *'  Central  State  Committee  ".  The 
committee  was  ably  handled  by  its  chairman,  ex-Lieutenant- 
Governor  Gleason,  lately  back  from  Europe,  where  he  had 
gone  after  his  expulsion  from  office  in  Florida.  One  duty 
of  the  "  Central  State  Committee "  was  to  pass  on  the 
credentials  of  county  delegates.  It  refused  to  admit  "  Con- 
over  men  "  from  seven  counties.  By  thus  ruthlessly  shut- 
ting out  hostile  delegations  the  Stearns  managers  com- 
passed the  governor's  renomination.  David  Montgomery, 
carpet-bagger,  late  delinquent  tax-collector  of  Madison 
County,  and  close  friend  of  Stearns,  was  nominated  for 
lieutenant-governor.^  The  so-called  "  ring  "  therefore  tri- 
umphed at  Madison.  The  liberal  element  in  the  party  was 
suppressed.  In  district  conventions,  W.  J.  Purman  and 
Horatio  Bisbee,  carpet-baggers,  were  nominated  by  the 
Republicans  for  Congress  from  the  First  and  Second  Dis- 
tricts, respectively.^ 

On  their  failure  to  make  themselves  heard  in  the  state 
convention,  the  "  Conover  men  "  withdrew  and  nominated 
Conover  for  governor  and  J.  A.  Lee,  of  Sumter  County, 
for  lieutenant-governor.* 

This  break  among  Republicans  threatened  to  be  very  ser- 
ious, and  in  the  end  was  probably  a  decisive  factor  in  the 
campaign.     Conover  undertook  an  independent  campaign 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  325. 

*  Floridian,  May  3,  June  6,  1876;  An.  Cycle,  1876. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  pp.  332-333. 

*  Floridian,  June  6,  13,  1876. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1876  691 

for  the  governorship.  He  is  reputed  to  have  requested 
campaign  funds  from  the  Conservative  party/  The  breach 
was  nominally  closed  before  election  day,  November  7th. 
"  A  private  consultation  was  had  between  Stearns  and  Con- 
over,"  states  Wallace,  "  and  an  agreement  was  entered  into, 
that  in  consideration  of  twelve  or  fifteen  hundred  dollars 
Conover  should  withdraw  and  advise  his  friends  to  support 
Stearns  ".' 

Early  in  September,  Conover  gave  up  his  canvass  and 
came  again  into  the  folds  of  the  regular  organization.'' 
However,  the  effect  of  this  traditional  disagreement  among 
Republicans  was  prejudicial  to  united  and  enthusiastic  ef- 
fort on  the  stump  and  at  the  polls.  Both  the  Conover  con- 
vention and  the  regular  state  convention  chose  delegates 
to  the  national  Republican  convention,  and  the  latter  body, 
strangely  enough,  refused  to  admit  the  regular  or  Stearns 
delegation.* 

The  Democrats  assembled  in  state  convention  at  Quincy, 
on  June  7th,  two  weeks  before  the  date  first  set.  Some 
Conservatives  termed  this  gathering  "  the  largest  and  most 
intelligent  ever  held  in  the  state  ".  It  proved  to  be  at  least 
more  peaceful  and  harmonious  than  the  Republican  meet- 
ing. The  representation  exceeded  the  number  called  for  in 
February.  One  hundred  and  ninety  delegates  were  present 
from  thirty-five  of  the  thirty-nine  counties  in  the  state. 
Without  serious  controversy  or  division  they  nominated 
George  B.  Drew  for  governor,  N.  A.  Hull  for  lieutenant- 
governor,  R.  H.  M.  Davidson  for  congressman  from  the 
First  District,  and  J.  J.  Finley  for  congressman  from  the 
Second  District." 

>  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  333.  » Ibid.,  p.  333, 

*An.  Cyclo.,  1876.  *  Wallace,  op.  at.,  p.  331. 

*  Floridian,  June  13,  1876. 


692  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Drew  was  a  native  of  New  Hampshire.  He  had  settled 
in  Florida  twenty  years  before  the  Civil  War,  and  during 
that  conflict  was  counted  an  original  opponent  of  secession, 
but  was  neither  an  aggressive  supporter  of  the  Confederacy 
nor  a  very  pronounced  "Union  man".  He  did  not  serve  in 
the  Confederate  army  but  he  had  supplied  the  Confederate 
war  department  with  bridge  timbers.^  He  had  prospered 
financially  in  the  lumber  business  and  in  1876  was  referred 
to  sometimes  as  "  millionaire  Drew  ".  His  nomination  at 
this  crisis  by  Florida  Democrats  was  expedient. 

After  two  days'  session  the  convention  adjourned.  Drew 
and  Hull  campaign  clubs  quickly  sprang  up  over  the  coun- 
try like  mushrooms  of  a  night.  These  organizations  spread 
abroad  and  gave  some  vitality  to  the  Conservative  plat- 
form.^ 

"  We  arraign  the  state  government,"  ran  the  resolutions, 

for  its  corruption,  oppression  and  extravagance,  for  its  reck- 
less disregard  of  the  rights  of  the  people;  for  administering 
the  government  as  if  created  for  the  benefit  of  the  rulers  and 
not  the  people.  For  these  and  other  considerations  we  pledge 
ourselves  to  work  unceasingly  and  earnestly  for  the  overthrow 
of  this  party  in  power,  and  we  cordially  invite  the  cooperation 
of  honest  men  of  all  shades  of  political  opinion  to  unite  with 
us  in  sustaining  and  enforcing  the  following  principles: 

1.  Fidelity  to  the  constitution  and  all  its  amendments. 

2.  Retrenchment  and  economy  in  Federal  and  State  admin- 
istration. 

3.  Lessening  burdens  of  labor  by  a  reduction  of  taxes  and 
offices. 

4.  Free  schools  exempt  from  sectarian  control. 

5.  Opposition  to  centralization  as  well  as  Federal  interfer- 
ence in  local  government. 

^  Floridian,  June  20,  1876;  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Florida,  v.  i. 
*  Floridian,  Aug.  8,  15,  22,  1876. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1876  693 

6.  Exposure  and  punishment  of  corruption  in  officials. 

7.  Equal  rights  and  equal  justice  to  all  irrespective  of  race.^ 

The  advent  of  summer  saw  the  campaign  actively  and 
bitterly  in  progress.  Benjamin  Hill,  of  Georgia,  among 
others,  came  into  Florida  to  speak  for  the  Conservative 
party. ^  The  cry  of  Democratic  campaign  orators  and  edi- 
tors was  in  principle  little  different  from  what  it  had  been 
for  six  years  past.  No  new  issue  was  in  fact  before  the 
people  of  Florida.  The  national  Republican  party  was 
charged  with  keeping  alive  the  Southern  question  for  the 
sake  of  politics,  and  the  local  Republican  administration  was 
charged  with  "  dishonesty  and  incapacity  ".' 

The  Republican  platform,  though  put  forth  by  men  ac- 
cused by  even  fellow  Republicans  of  defrauding  the  state, 
assumed  nevertheless  a  lofty  tone.  Formal  and  smug 
hypocrisy  is  too  often  a  part  of  successful  politics.  The 
platform  declared  the  Republican  party  "  to  be  in  accord 
with  the  just  and  enlightened  sentiment  of  mankind  and 
largely  answerable  for  material,  intellectual  and  moral  prog- 
ress throughout  the  world."  Furthermore,  it  endorsed  the 
administration  of  the  state  government  as  being  "  wise, 
just,  economical,  and  progressive."  *  There  was  little  dif- 
ference in  principle  between  Republican  and  Democratic 
platforms.  Men  were  in  fact  not  wrangling  over  principles, 
but  rather  over  the  actual  measures  of  government  which 
constituted  the  local  Republican  record,  and  as  Edmund 
Burke  once  put  it :  "  Whether  a  measure  of  government  be 
right  or  wrong  is  no  matter  of  fact  but  a  mere  affair  of 

»  An.  Cyclo.,  1876. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  336. 

*  Floridian,   Aug.  29,   1876,  open  letter  of  Wm.  A.   Cocke  entitled 
"  Why  Governor  Stearns  Should  not  be  Elected." 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1876. 


694  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

opinion  on  which  men  may,  as  they  do,  dispute  and  wrangle 
without  end  "} 

When  confronted  by  embarrassing  facts  concerning 
"  measures  of  government  ",  the  general  tenor  of  Repub- 
lican reply  was  that  the  party  in  Florida  "  had  to  encounter 
organized  opposition  surrounded  by  influences  of  the  most 
baneful  and  malign  character  ",^  and  that  the  Democratic 
method  in  the  coming  campaign  would  be  "  the  shot-gun 
policy  pursued  in  Mississippi  ".^  Both  of  these  conclusions 
were  true,  but  neither  had  much  to  do  with  what  the  state 
needed  and  what  the  mass  of  the  whites  demanded.  The 
Republican  position  was  a  negative  one. 

To  the  practical  Democratic  politician  the  important 
points  in  the  campaign  were  "  to  get  out  "  the  torpid  white 
vote,  to  suppress  in  some  fashion  a  portion  of  the  eager 
negro  majority  which  backed  the  Republican  party,  and  to 
force  Radical  election  officials  to  refrain  on  election  day 
from  stuffing  ballot-boxes,  using  spurious  poll  lists,  and 
purposely  miscounting  votes.  Platforms,  formulated  is- 
sues, and  trite  arguments  were  of  very  little  importance  to 
the  vast  mass  of  voters  in  Florida.  People  felt  rather  than 
reasoned  the  issues,  and  probably  most  meant  to  support, 
and  did  support,  one  party  or  the  other  regardless  of  argu- 
ments. 

Conservatives  deliberately  set  to  work  in  many  localities 
to  intimidate  would-be  Radical  negro  voters.  Local  bands 
of  white  regulators — somewhat  suppressed  since  the  con- 
gressional Ku  Klux  laws  and  Federal  prosecutions  of  1871- 
1873 — became  active  again.     Blacks  were  warned  that  if 

'  Thoughts  on  the  Causes  of  the  Present  Discontent. 
*  Florid'ian,  Aug.   31,   1876,   containing  statements   from  the  Florida 
Sentinel,  Republican  journal  of  Tallahassee. 
'Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  and  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  45. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1876  5^5 

they  supported  the  Republican  ticket  they  would  be  pun- 
ished. Robert  Meacham,  a  Radical  negro  leader  of  Jeffer- 
son County,  was  called  to  his  door  at  night  and  fired  on.^ 
He  escaped,  and  the  Democratic  club  of  Monticello  offered 
$100  reward  for  the  arrest  of  the  would-be  assassin.^ 

In  Columbia  County  a  band  of  armed  whites  took  several 
negro  leaders  into  the  woods  and  after  putting  halters  about 
their  necks  preparatory  to  hanging  them,  desisted  on  ob- 
taining from  the  blacks  promises  not  only  to  vote  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket  and  join  the  Democratic  club  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, but  to  persuade  a  certain  number  of  friends  to  do 
likewise.  "  Every  one  of  you  promise  how  many  men  you 
will  fetch  over  to  the  Democratic  party  besides  yourselves, 
and  name  them  out  ",  the  regulator  chief  was  represented  as 
saying,  "  and  fetch  them  over,  and  you  join  the  Democratic 
club  right  away  just  the  first  meeting  called  ".^ 

This  form  of  intimidation  broke  up  the  Republican  clubs 
of  Columbia  County  and  other  counties.  Former  black 
Radicals  were  referred  to  as  "  good  Democrats  ".*  Why 
this  change  in  politics  and  affiliations?  Was  there  really 
considerable  change?  Some  negroes  afterwards  solemnly 
affirmed,  that  at  the  point  of  a  gun  they  had  been  forced  to 
swear  to  vote  the  Democratic  ticket,  and  then  forced  to 
swear  before  witnesses  that  they  had  never  been  forced  to 
swear  to  do  so.  Being  unable  to  remember  just  what  they 
had  sworn  to  do  or  not  to  do  and  being  threatened  with  dis- 
aster if  they  voted  or  foreswore,  some  hesitated  to  vote 
at  all. 

Furthermore,  the  more  aggressive  negro  leaders  threat- 
ened to  beat  or  shoot  those  blacks  known  to  have  gone  over 

'  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  pp.  333-338. 
'  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  35,  pt.  2,  p.  213. 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  242. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  241-253. 


696  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

to  the  Democrats.  **  They  are  afraid  of  their  own  color," 
affirmed  one  white  man.  "  A  large  portion  of  them  would 
not  acknowledge  under  any  circumstances  that  they  voted 
the  Democratic  ticket  "/  One  negro  testified  that  "  he  was 
beaten  and  severely  cut,  previous  to  the  election,  by  colored 
Republicans,  because  he  dared  to  express  his  Democratic 
principles,  and  that  he  now  considers  his  life  in  danger  as 
there  have  been  threats  made  concerning  him,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood where  he  lives  ".^  Such  testimony  as  this  was 
characteristic  of  the  Reconstruction  period,  particularly  of 
the  political  canvass  of  1876.  Many  a  negro  must  have 
felt  that  to  exercise  the  suffrage  he  must  choose  between  the 
Devil  and  the  deep  sea. 

Threatened  and  actual  physical  violence  was  only  one  of 
the  methods  employed  by  Conservatives  to  influence  the 
black's  political  activity.  Most  landlords  and  employers  of 
negro  labor  were  Conservative  whites.  Negroes  were 
threatened  with  dismissal  from  employment  if  they  voted 
the  Republican  ticket.^  "  We  pledge  ourselves  to  each  other 
by  our  sacred  honor,"  publicly  announced  the  Democratic 
Club  of  Monticello, 

to  give  the  first  preference  in  all  things  to  those  men  who  vote 
for  reform ;  and  to  give  second  preference  in  all  things  to  those 
who  do  not  vote  at  all ;  that  in  employing  or  hiring,  or  renting 
land  to  any  such  persons  [as  vote  the  Republican  ticket]  a 
distinction  of  25%  will  be  made  against  such  persons;  that 
merchants,  lawyers  and  doctors,  in  extending  credit  to  such 
persons,  make  the  same  distinction.* 

^Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  180. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  228.    See  also  pp.  136,  138,  207,  233,  241,  307,  310,  385,  etc. 

8  Ibid.,  pp.  292,  338,  339,  341,  etc.  The  mass  of  testimony  taken  by 
Congressional  committees  during  the  next  two  years  on  the  Florida 
situation  contains  references  to  this. 

*//.  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  35,  pt.  2,  p.  214;  Sen.  Rpts., 
44th  C,  2nd  S.,  No.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  46. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1876  f^y 

This  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  economic  coercion  attempted 
in  Florida.  It  had  been  attempted  before.  One  negro 
leader  summed  up  the  situation  very  well  when  he  said : 

The  substance  [of  the  matter]  was  about  like  this:  that  all 
colored  people  that  vote  the  Republican  ticket  were  to  be 
starved  out  next  year.  We  colored  people  down  here  have  to 
go  to  the  merchants  and  farmers  to  have  advances  made  us. 
What  we  call  advances  is  to  let  us  have  meat  and  corn.^ 

Some  Conservative  householders  who  rented  to  negroes 
told  their  tenants  to  vote  the  Democratic  ticket  or  seek  an- 
other domicile.  Negro  cooks  were  ordered  by  their  mis- 
tresses to  induce  husbands  either  to  stay  away  from 
the  polls  or  to  vote  the  Democratic  ticket,  on  pain  of  dis- 
missal, from  their  places  as  cooks.^  The  force  of  such  a 
threat  is  obvious  to  all  who  understand  the  importance  of 
kitchen  privileges  to  the  Southern  negro. 

In  East  Florida,  Democratic  county  committees  issued 
thousands  of  marked  and  numbered  Democratic  ballots, 
which  were  delivered  to  employers  of  negro  labor.  On  the 
eve  of  election  the  employers  handed  them  to  their  men 
with  little  more  than  the  simple  injunction  "  vote  it ". 
"  Dennis,  I  give  you  this  ballot.  I  want  to  see  it  come  out 
of  the  ballot-box  to-morrow  night ".  The  numbers  were 
recorded  opposite  the  names  of  the  men  receiving  the  bal- 
lots. Those  who  did  not  vote  as  told  would  presumably 
lose  their  jobs.  "  We  have  been  friends  a  long  time,"  said 
one  employer.  "If  you  don't  vote  those  tickets  we  will 
fall  out ".» 

The  officials  of  a  railroad  in  East  Florida  were  accused 

^  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  336;  testimony  of  Geo. 
W.  Witherspoon. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  338-342. 

»  Ibid.,  pp.  429-433- 


698  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

of  distributing  these  numbered  Democratic  ballots  among 
the  road's  negro  laborers.  Ex-Senator  David  L.  Yulee, 
president  of  the  corporation,  declared  that  the  allegation 
was  "  unfounded  and  untrue,"  but  added  that, 

if  the  company  had  done  what  is  alleged,  it  would  have  done 
only  what  it  had  a  right  to  do.  If,  in  view  of  its  own  inter- 
est, it  was  important  to  secure  a  certain  government  policy,  as 
for  instance,  to  remedy  oppressive  taxation  and  unfit  appoint- 
ments to  office,  there  is  no  reason  in  morals  or  law  why  it 
should  not  prefer  in  its  services  those  who  are  disposed  to 
promote  and  sustain  its  policy  and  interests.^ 

The  Republican  managers  were  directing  the  Radical 
campaign  with  large  activity  and  small  scruple.  They  were 
preparing  shrewdly  to  overcome  by  fraud  what  Democrats 
might  gain  by  force.  Rumors  were  abroad  of  ugly  plans 
entered  into  by  local  Republican  bosses  to  unfairly  influence 
the  elections.  Vindictive  partisanship  colors  most  surviv- 
ing stories.  John  Wallace,  Republican,  states  on  fairly 
credible  authority  that  Governor  Stearns  and  his  politi- 
cal lieutenants  outlined  the  following  scheme : 

First :  that  the  ring  county  officers  whose  duty  it  was  to  ap- 
point the  inspectors  of  election,  should  appoint  only  those  as 
Republican  inspectors  who  would  commit  all  the  fraud  that 
possibly  could  be  committed  on  the  ballot-box  in  favor  of 
Stearns.  Second :  in  large  Democratic  precincts,  where  the 
ring  inspectors  would  be  watched  so  closely  that  they  could 
not  commit  fraud,  gross  irregularities  were  to  be  committed, 
so  that  the  precinct  returns  could  be  thrown  out  by  the  board 
of  county  canvassers.  Third :  in  Democratic  counties  having 
a  full  set  of  Republican  officers  or  a  majority  of  the  board  of 
county  canvassers,  Democratic  precincts  were  to  be  thrown 
out  on  account  of  these  irregularities  if  the  people  would  sub- 

'  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  439. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1876 


699 


mit  to  it  without  violence.  Fourth:  if  the  throwing  out  pro- 
cess raised  too  much  excitement,  these  irregularities  were  to 
be  sent  immediately  to  E.  M.  Qieney,  chairman  of  the  fraudu- 
lent returning  board  of  the  party  at  Jacksonville,  who  would 
prepare  papers  for  the  final  count.  Fifth:  in  the  black-belt 
counties,  general  repeating  was  to  be  resorted  to  by  the  freed- 
men,  and,  if  detected,  Stearns,  the  Governor-elect,  would  pro- 
tect them.^ 

The  election  machinery  was  in  Republican  hands,  because 
most  of  the  men  who  had  anything  to  do  with  directing  the 
election  and  counting  the  votes  were  the  appointees  of  the 
Republican  governor  or  boards  of  county  commissioners  of 
like  politics.  A  visitor  from  the  North  did  not  exaggerate 
much  when  he  described  the  situation  thus : 

From  the  precinct  ballot-boxes  to  the  Tallahassee  state-house, 
the  place  of  voting,  the  precinct  officers  who  receive  the  vote, 
the  officer  who  records  the  vote,  the  county  officers  whose 
judgment  affects  the  certificate  of  the  vote,  the  State  officers 
who  by  law  canvass  the  county  returns  of  the  vote,  all  are 
Republicans  or  under  Republican  control.  Such  is  the  law, 
such  is  the  fact.  The  Florida  Democratic  Committee  are  un- 
aware that  county  returns  have  been  stolen  from  the  mails, 
which  are  under  Republican  control.^ 

The  public  school  teachers,  the  majority  of  local  officials, 
and  the  Federal  office-holders  were  more  or  less  active  in  or- 
ganizing the  Radical  vote.  "  The  whole  public  school  sys- 
tem ",  says  Wallace, 

was  made  a  powerful  auxiliary  to  the  campaign  fund  of 
Stearns.  The  State  Superintendent,  while  possessing  unques- 
tionable ability  relative  to  the  duties  of  his  office,  devoted  his 

» Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  435. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  v.  2,  p.  227.     Manton  Marble. 


700 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


whole  energy  and  time  to  the  nefarious  canvass  for  the  nomi- 
nation of  Stearns,  to  the  utter  neglect  of  the  education  of  the 
masses.  The  same  is  true  of  some  of  the  superintendents  of 
the  black  belt  and  other  counties — organizing  political  clubs  in- 
stead of  schools.^ 

The  local  Radical  leaders  strove  to  keep  their  grip  upon 
the  individual  negro  voter  for  the  November  test.  "  Two 
weeks  before  election  time  the  colored  brothers  in  every 
precinct  were  notified  by  Saunders,  Bowes  and  other  leaders 
that  unless  they  voted  as  many  times  as  they  could  on  the 
day  of  election  they  would  be  put  back  into  slavery  ".^ 
Bowes,  superintendent  of  schools  for  Leon  County,  ordered 
printed  a  quantity  of  small  thin  Republican  ballots  called 
"  little  jokers  ",  with  which  to  stuff  the  ballot  boxes  on 
election  day.'  He  jocularly  told  his  friends  of  the  projeci 
and  later  used  the  ballots  to  good  effect. 

Negroes  in  the  densely  black  sections  were  as  usual  in- 
clined to  be  aggressive  in  their  political  declarations,  and 
were  even  bellicose  and  insolent.  In  Key  West  a  notice 
charged  to  negroes  was  found  posted  one  morning  before 
the  home  of  a  local  Conservative  leader.  "  My  name  is 
Hell  ",  it  ran,  "  and  I  will  burn  your  property  to  the  ground. 
It  may  be  three  months,  six  months,  twelve  months,  eigh- 
teen months,  but  I  will  burn  it  to  the  ground  for  my  name 
is  Hell  "." 

The  half-serious  reference  by  Wallace  to  the  Florida 
negro  public  school  catechism,  furnishes  an  insight  into  the 
temper  of  the  times.  "  *  Who  is  the  *  Publican  Governor 
of  Florida?'  "  was  the  first  question. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  326.  *  Ibid.,  p.  337. 

•  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  12-24. 

*Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  384;  H.  Rpts.  4Sth  C, 
3rd  S.,  No.  140,  p.  12. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1876 


701 


Answer :  "  Governor  Stearns."  "  Who  made  him  Governor  ?" 
Ans. :  "  The  colored  people."  "  Who  is  trying  to  get  him 
out  of  his  seat  ?"  Ans. :  "  The  Democrats,  Conover,  and  some 
white  and  black  liberal  Republicans."  "  What  should  the  col- 
ored people  do  with  men  who  are  trying  to  get  Governor 
Stearns  out  of  his  seat  ?"     Ans. :  "  They  should,  kill  them."  ^ 

As  the  fateful  November  7th  drew  near,  wilder  and 
uglier  rumors  spread  abroad.  The  contest  was  a  real  one. 
In  some  localities  it  was  a  rough  one.  Republican  cam- 
paign managers  sought  to  make  it  seem  a  desperate  one  for 
the  physical  safety  of  Radicals  in  Florida.  "  The  coming 
election  is  the  crisis  of  free  government  in  Florida  ",  de- 
clared the  Republican  state  campaign  committee,  on  October 
23rd,  in  an  address  sent  broadcast  over  the  state. 

Our  Democratic  opponents  realize  already  that  their  defeat  is 
inevitable  unless  they  can  stifle  the  voice  of  the  people  by  fraud 
and  violence  and  deter  the  masses  of  our  party  from  casting 
their  ballots  on  the  day  of  election. 

Information  absolutely  reliable  has  been  received  at  these 
headquarters  that  evil,  designing  men  in  the  South  counties  of 
Georgia  are  preparing  to  invade  our  State  in  armed  bands  on 
the  7th  of  November  next  for  the  purpose  of  intimidating 
Republicans  from  casting  their  ballots  and  to  stir  up  riots  and 
bloodshed.  Georgia,  now  Democratic  by  80,000  majority,  pro- 
poses to  assist  the  Democrats  of  Florida  in  wresting  from  our 
people  the  rights  guaranteed  us  by  the  constitution  and  laws 
of  our  common  country.^ 

Popular  excitement  increased  as  the  days  passed.  Radi- 
cal leaders  helped  it  on  for  a  purpose.  Negroes  were  rest- 
less and  mass  meetings  were  frequent.  "  In  view  of  the 
excited  condition  of  the  public  mind  ",  announced  Governor 

'  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  326. 
*  An.  Cycle,  1876. 


702 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


Steams  on  October  31st,  "and  the  in  some  degree  well- 
founded  apprehension  of  coming  trouble  growing  out  of  the 
bitter  political  canvass  now  in  progress  in  this  State  .  .  . 
I  earnestly  call  upon  all  citizens  to  temper  zeal  with  dis- 
cretion and  to  deprecate  fraud,  violence,  and  disorder."  ^ 

The  distribution  of  Federal  troops  over  the  state  was  de- 
sired by  Radicals,  and  the  troops  were  readily  obtained. 
Several  weeks  before  election  day  the  war  department  be- 
gan to  distribute  squads  of  regulars  over  the  state.  The 
presence  of  a  few  United  States  soldiers  went  a  long  way 
toward  protecting  black  Radicals  from  possible  onslaughts 
by  exasperated  and  excited  whites. 

On  the  8th  of  October  a  battery  of  the  Fifth  United 
States  Artillery  was  ordered  to  move  from  Tampa  to  Gaines- 
ville (in  the  midst  of  the  Black  Belt) — "  to  arrive  between 
the  1st  and  7th  [of  November],  to  go  into  encampment, 
and  to  remain  until  the  14th."  ^  Squads  of  ten  soldiers 
each  were  ordered  from  St.  Augustine  to  Lake  City  and 
Quincy,  and  twenty  soldiers  were  sent  to  Madison.  A  bat- 
tery of  the  Fifth  Artillery  was  sent  from  Barrancas  to 
Marianna  and  another  battery  to  Pensacola.' 

Did  the  situation  in  Florida  merit  the  presence  of  na- 
tional troops?  The  soldiers  did  little  positive  harm  of 
their  own  accord.  No  one  was  killed.  Probably  no  one 
was  even  arrested  by  them.  No  serious  rioting  occurred. 
Police  were  necessary,  but  was  it  the  function  of  the  national 
government  to  police  polling  places?  Both  Republicans 
and  Democrats  asked  for  Federal  troops.  "  Can  you  not 
have  troops  at  Tallahassee  and  Monticello,  Florida,  on  elec- 
tion day ",  telegraphed  Mr.  Drew,  Democratic  candidate 
for  governor,  to  General  Ruger  three  days  before  the  elec- 

^An.  Cyclo.,  1876. 

*H.  Ex.  Docs.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  30,  p.  45.  . 

3  Ibid.,  pp.  45-47- 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1876  703 

tion.  "  We  desire  them  ".^  Republican  leaders  took  ad- 
vantage of  this  situation  to  frighten  faint-hearted  negro 
constituents.  Federal  uniforms  stood  for  Republicanism 
with  the  black.  He  was  told  that  if  he  did  not  vote  the 
Republican  ticket  the  soldiers  would  put  him  in  the  "  chain 
gang".^ 

The  presence  of  soldiers  was  useful  in  restraining  Demo- 
crats who  were,  as  a  rule,  seeking  to  carry  the  elections  at 
almost  any  cost.  They  were  not  over-scrupulous  about 
means.  They  sought  results  primarily.  The  key-note  of 
their  campaign  method  was  not  persuasion.  That  had 
failed.  The  key-note  was  threatened  violence  and  economic 
coercion.  That  was  positive,  and  that  had  already  partially 
succeeded.  The  Democrats  stood  for  a  white  man's  gov- 
ernment. They  promised  honest  and  inexpensive  reform. 
"  Such  reform  was  needed,  God  knows  ",  said  one  man. 
It  is  true  that  Florida  had  been  undergoing  reform  since 
1867,  but  the  result  had  not  been  satisfactory  to  the  whites. 
The  State  was  very  poor,  taxes  were  very  high,  and  society 
was  in  a  bitter  turmoil. 

The  election  methods  of  Conservative  reformers  in  1876 
when  judged  apart  from  environment  and  in  the  light  of 
exalted  ethics,  were  rather  bad.  Democrats  did  not  forge 
election  returns,  because  being  out  of  office  that  privilege 
accrued  to  Republicans;  but  they  bulldozed  opponents  at 
the  end  of  a  halter  or  the  point  of  a  gun  into  voting  with 
them  or  not  voting  at  all.  They  did  not  manufacture  spur- 
ious poll  lists  because  that  too  was  a  Republican  privilege, 
but  they  distributed  spurious  ballots  to  illiterate  blacks  and 
some  did  not  hesitate  to  vote  twice  or  three  times  on  election 
day. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  pt.  4,  p.  343.     Ruger  was  in 
command  of  the  military  department  and  was  s'ationed  at  Atlanta,  Ga. 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  Doc.  Ev.,  pp.  194,  244,  246,  etc. 


704  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

This  canvass  was  primarily  between  a  black  man's  party 
and  a  white  man's  party.  The  whites  of  Florida  in  1876 
outnumbered  the  blacks  by  more  than  5,000.^  The  Re- 
publican party  was  split  and  former  Republicans,  black 
and  white,  were  of  their  own  volition  either  supporting-  the 
Conservative  party  or  not  voting  at  all.^  The  local  Re- 
publican party  had  been  losing  ground  since  1870.  These 
facts  indicate  that  in  1876  registered  Conservative  voters 
considerably  outnumbered  Radical  voters.  The  election 
was  therefore  not  only  a  fight  by  the  whites  to  obtain  con- 
trol of  the  government,  but  a  fight  by  the  majority — the 
people — to  obtain  control  of  their  government  held  by  the 
entrenched  representatives  of  the  minority.  These  represen- 
tatives had  it  within  their  power  by  sharp  and  high-handed 
practice  in  manipulating  election  returns  to  hold  their  con- 
trol and  their  offices.  The  affirmation  sometimes  made  that 
a  fair  election  would  have  resulted  in  a  Republican  victoiy 
is  not  supported  by  the  more  patent  and  fundamental  facts 
in  the  case.  A  fair  election  would  have  resulted  in  a  more 
complete  Democratic  victory. 

It  is  true,  nevertheless,  that  Democratic  regulators  de- 
terred by  violence  Radical  voters  and  it  is  equally  true  that 
Republican  election  officials  threw  out  by  fraud  honest  Con- 
servative votes.  The  average  Democrat  of  Florida  in  this 
election,  if  profane — and  most  were — believed  that  he  was 
"  fighting  the  Devil  with  fire  "  and  that  political  salvation 
lay  through  sinning;  if  a  sentimentalist  or  a  philosopher 
he  was  wont  to  believe  that  he  was  voting  for  the  "  su- 

*  Census  of  1870  gave  white  population  of  96,057 ;  black,  91,689.  See 
reference  to  this  question  in  E.  W.  R.  Ewing,  Hayes-Tilden  Contest, 
p.  22;  McClure,  Our  Presidents,  p.  265;  Blaine,  Twenty  Years,  v.  2, 
p.  S8i. 

*  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  chap.  19;  Sen.  Docs.,  44th  C,  2n(i  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2, 
Doc.  Ev.,  pp.  181-183,  193,  197,  198. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1876  705 

premacy  of  Caucasian  civilization  ";  if  historically  minded, 
he  could  well  express  on  his  own  question  the  ringing 
opinion  of  Edmund  Burke  on  the  first  great  American 
question :  "  If  other  ideas  should  prevail  things  must  re- 
main in  their  present  confusion,  until  they  are  hurried  on 
into  the  rage  of  civil  violence  or  until  they  sink  into  the 
dead  repose  of  despotism  ". 

On  election  day,  November  7th,  from  early  morning  till 
sundown,  Democratic  watchers  closely  surrounded  most  of 
the  important  polling  places.  Dishonesty  by  election  offi- 
cials was  expected  because  it  had  occurred  before,  and  con- 
ditions had  not  materially  changed  since  it  had  occurred. 
Conservatives  came  prepared  to  challenge  those  sus- 
pected of  "  repeating  "  or  plural  voting,  but  Radical  election 
officials  found  ways  and  means  to  overcome  quickly 
such  obstruction.  "We  had  a  list  of  names  to  be  challenged," 
stated  one  Conservative,  "  names  of  persons  whom  we  be- 
lieved to  be  disqualified.  That  list  we  had  there  and  it  was 
impossible  to  do  that.  They  [election  inspectors — Radicals] 
did  the  thing  so  rapidly  that  we  could  not  find  the  names. 
Before  we  could  begin  to  look  for  them  they  would  call 
out  '  check  ',  and  the  vote  was  passed  in  and  the  voter 
gone."  ' 

At  the  precinct  polling  places  the  three  inspectors  of 
election  who  conducted  the  actual  voting  were  stationed 
usually  in  a  room  before  an  open  window  near  the  ground. 
The  ballot  box  was  in  view  of  those  outside.  The  voter 
passed  his  ballot  openly  to  an  inspector  who  dropped  it  in 
the  box  through  a  slit  in  the  top  of  the  box.^  "  The  voter 
usually  stood  by  the  window  ",  stated  one  election  official 
in  describing  the  process  of  voting  at  one  precinct.     "  I 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  35,  pt.  2,  p.  7. 
*For  electoral  methods,  see  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2, 
p.  310. 


7o6  RECONSTRUCTION  JN  FLORIDA 

think  the  top  of  the  window  is  about  six  feet  from  the 
ground.  A  tall  man  could  possibly  look  over  the  window 
sill.  The  voter  was  standing  below.  The  person  ad- 
ministering the  oath  was  standing  probably  three  feet  from 
the  window,  one  person  between.  The  inspector  who  re- 
ceived the  vote  was  standing  next  the  window."  ^ 

Democratic  regulators  on  election  day  picketed  the  roads 
and  country  by-paths,  with  shot-guns  across  their  saddles, 
to  prevent  negroes  from  marching  across  country  from  one 
polling  place  to  the  other  and  repeating  their  votes.  In 
Leon  county,  for  instance,  bands  of  negroes  began  to  vote 
"  early  and  often.  They  started  early  in  the  morning  "  and 
it  is  claimed,  voted  at  every  precinct  from  Tallahassee  to 
the  State  line — "  and  each  time  the  same  man  would  vote 
under  an  assumed  name  ".^ 

At  Monticello  in  Jefferson  County  "  500  armed  horse- 
men" paraded  the  streets.  The  polls  in  Monticello  "opened 
about  8  o'clock  "  testified  a  special  election  policeman. 

Within  a  few  minutes  of  that  time,  and  for  some  time  before — 
an  hour  and  a  half,  or  two  hours  perhaps — there  was  a  great 
deal  of  noise  and  confusion  about  the  polls — noise  of  hammer- 
ing at  the  windows  and  people  crowding  up  to  look  in.  At  the 
time  the  polls  were  opened  there  was  a  dense  crowd  round  the 
polls,  so  much  so  that  they  were  thrown  over  one  another's 
heads  and  climbed  up  to  get  out,  and  for,  well,  an  hour  I  sup- 
pose, it  was  impossible  to  get  any  order  there  at  all.^ 

In  Jackson  County,  also,  some  uproar  accompanied  the 
voting  at  the  more  important  polling  places.  Obstreperous 
whites  and  insolent  negroes  frequently  "  had  words  ".  Un- 
der such  circumstances  the  black  was  wont  to  threaten  to 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  35,  pt.  2,  p.  8. 
•Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  338. 

•  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  35,  pt.  2,  p.  15. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1876 


707 


call  the  marshal  —  usually  a  Republican  —  for  protection. 
One  negro  in  describing  what  happened  in  Friendship 
Church  precinct  said : 

And  then  Lewis  Godwin  [black]  called  the  marshal,  and  then 
Shumaker  and  Tommy  Davis  [whites]  said,  "  God  damn  you, 
let  the  marshal  start,  and  there  will  not  be  a  piece  of  him  as 
big  as  a  rag,  and  there  will  not  be  a  piece  of  you  found  as 
big  as  my  hat."  Then  Tommy  Davis  yelled  and  put  his  hand 
down  to  his  hip  as  if  for  a  pistol,  and  we  all  drawed  back,  and 
Squire  Parker  then  came  up — a  good,  clever  old  fellow,  a  jus- 
tice of  the  peace  there,  a  good  Democrat — and  he  talked  to 
them,  and  said  there  ought  not  to  be  any  trouble  there,  and 
we  all  Hstened  to  him.^ 

The  attempt  to  associate  negroes  and  Southern  whites 
on  precinct  election  boards  only  added  to  the  confusion 
of  the  election  in  some  localities  and  caused  much  of 
the  aftermath  of  recrimination.  The  two  white  elec- 
tion inspectors  of  Friendship  Church  precinct,  for  instance, 
objected  to  the  presence  of  the  third  member,  Henry 
Long,  a  negro.     *'  We  all  went  into  the  room  ",  said  Long, 

and  when  the  hour  arrived  to  go  to  voting  Mr.  Stephens  said, 
"  Where  is  Long  ?"  I  says,  "  Here  I  am,"  and  he  said,  "  You 
belong  outside."  I  said,  "No;  I  reckon  not,  if  I  know  what 
is  right !"  He  says,  "  No,  you  do  belong  outdoors."  I  says, 
"  No,  I  don't,"  and  I  pulled  out  my  authority  and  showed  it. 
He  says,  "  Well,  you  do  belong  outdoors,"  and  I  says,  '*  I 
don't."  And  he  says,  "  Well,  I  know  you  do  belong  out 
there  and  you  must  go  out  there,"  and,  of  course,  I  went  out. 

"  Did  Mr.  Stephens  display  a  pistol  at  that  time?"  asked  the 
chairman  of  the  Congressional  committee  questioning  Long. 
"  Yes,  Sir  ",  replied  Long,  "  just  before  that  he  pulled  out 

*  Sen.  Rpis.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  325,  testimony  of  Thos. 
Miller. 


7o8  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

a  pistol  and  laid  his  pistol  on  the  table ".  "  When  you 
went  out  how  did  you  go  ?"  was  asked.  "  I  went  out 
doors  right  by  the  window  ",  Long  answered,^ 

In  Jackson  County  and  elsewhere  "  galvanized  "  ballots 
were  quietly  issued  by  Democrats  to  illiterate  negroes. 
These  ballots  had  the  Republican  insignia  engraved  above 
and  the  names  of  the  Democratic  candidates  printed  be- 
neath.^ The  Radical  blacks  knew  their  party  emblem. 
They  had  been  taught  that.  Most  of  them  could  not  read. 
This  ruse  did  not  work  well.  Republican  leaders  who  could 
read  usually  took  these  semi-Democratic  ballots  away 
from  the  negroes  before  they  reached  the  ballot  box. 

In  Escambia  County  Democrats  repeated  votes  by  rail. 
After  voting  in  Pensacola  a  carload  of  Conservatives  trav- 
eled to  Bluff  Springs  and  another  car-load  to  Perdido.  The 
Republican  Federal  marshal  attempted  to  head  them  off  by 
telegraphing  that  they  were  coming,  but  the  repeaters  man- 
aged to  recast  some  of  their  votes.^ 

At  Waldo  in  Alachua  County  a  passenger  train  is  said  to 
have  stopped  while  the  passengers  amused  themselves  by 
voting  for  both  Democrats  and  Republicans  at  the  local 
polling  place. 

In  West  Florida  a  Democratic  railroad  official  sent  sev- 
eral gangs  of  negro  workmen  out  of  the  state  into  Alabama 
to  work  on  the  railroad.  The  blacks  left  Florida  with  the 
expectation  of  coming  back  the  day  before  the  election,  but 
their  train  "  broke  down  "  a  hundred  miles  away  in  the 
woods,  and  they  spent  election  day  in  Alabama. 

In  Leon  County,  the  Republican  county  superintendent 
of  Schools,  Joseph  Bowes,  managed  to  slip  into  the  ballot 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  312. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  321. 

'  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  Doc.  Ev.,  pp.  146-149. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1876  709 

box  of  one  precinct  a  sufficient  number  of  his  spurious 
ballots  termed  "  little  jokers  "  prepared  in  advance/ 

In  Key  West,  Monroe  County,  the  report  was  spread 
abroad  early  in  the  day  that  the  negroes  were  being  armed 
by  their  white  leaders  and  meant  to  drive  the  Conservatives 
from  the  polls.  The  mayor  of  the  town  made  inquiries 
among  the  Federal  office-holders  concerning  this  report. 
The  Democrats  of  the  Third  Precinct,  "  the  Conchs  ",  were 
boisterous  and  turbulent.  The  Republicans  of  Key  West 
claimed  that  unregistered  persons  voted  the  Democratic 
ticket;  that  the  surrounding  crowd  of  Conservatives  would 
yell  out  when  such  an  individual  was  challenged :  "  He's  all 
right.  Let  him  vote  " — ^and  that  he  usually  voted.  As  the 
editor  of  the  Key  West  Dispatch — a  Radical  journal — ap- 
proached the  polls,  amid  the  hooting  of  the  crowd  some  one 
called  out :  "  Can't  you  give  that  spectacled  son-of-a-bitch 
a  clip  in  the  snoot?" — which  passed  as  election  humor.^ 
In  Jackson  County  despite  the  presence  of  Federal  troops 
"  plenty  of  pistols  and  double-barrelled  shot-guns  "  were  in 
evidence  among  the  whites. 

Yet  in  the  majority  of  the  polling  places  over  the  state, 
nothing  out  of  the  ordinary  transpired  on  November  7th. 
The  day  passed  in  Florida  with  remarkably  little  violence 
and  commotion,  when  what  was  expected  is  taken  into  con- 
sideration. Armed  Georgians  did  not  come  over  the  state 
line,  and  native  whites  did  not  ride  rough-shod  over  the 
negroes.  The  general  tone  of  the  mass  of  surviving  testi- 
mony concerning  the  conduct  of  the  election  and  the  pro- 
ceedings at  the  polls  is  that  "  everything  passed  quietly 
and  peaceably  ".  "  It  was  just  like  a  picnic  ",  stated  one 
witness.     "  The  election  was  peaceable  and  quiet  and  with- 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  12-24. 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  pp.  370,  382. 


7IO  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

out  any  intimidation,  threat,  or  violence  of  any  character 
whatever  ",  stated  another  from  a  county  in  which  Republi- 
cans claimed  that  there  had  been  violence  and  intimidation. 
"  No  man  was  prevented  from  voting  as  he  pleased  ",  he 
continued,  "  and  there  was  no  citizen  of  Alabama  voted  at 
said  precinct,  as  far  as  my  knowledge  of  the  parties  goes, 
and  I  have  resided  in  the  neighborhood  27  years  "/  W.  J. 
Purman,  Republican  Congressman,  telegraphed  a  fellow 
Republican  from  Jackson  County  on  election  day  :  "  Election 
passing  of?  gloriously.  Everybody  peaceable  and  unob- 
structed." ^  In  this  very  county,  when  it  was  found  that 
the  election  had  gone  against  them,  the  Republicans  claimed 
that  fraud,  violence,  and  obstruction  had  been  perpetrated 
by  the  Democrats. 

The  election  proceeded  under  the  law  of  August  6th,  1868, 
materially  amended  in  1872.  This  statute  provided  for  the 
registration  of  voters  by  the  county  commissioners  and  for 
the  conduct  of  the  election  at  each  polling  place  by  three 
"  inspectors  "  appointed  by  the  commissioners.  The  com- 
missioners were  appointed  by  the  governor.  At  the  close 
of  the  polls  the  inspectors  were  required  to  "  canvass  "  or 
count  the  votes  publicly  at  once.  They  were  required  to 
make  out  certificates  in  duplicate  showing  the  result  of  the 
voting,  to  have  these  certificates  securely  sealed,  and  to 
deliver  one  copy  to  the  county  judge  and  one  copy  with  the 
ballot  box  to  the  clerk  of  the  circuit  court.  Within  six 
days  after  the  election,  the  county  judge,  the  clerk  of  the 
circuit  court  and  a  justice  of  the  peace,  sitting  as  a  special 
board,  were  to  consolidate  the  precinct  returns  and  canvass 
the  votes  for  the  county.  Their  finding  was  to  be  made  out 
in  triplicate,  signed,  and  one  copy  sent  to  the  secretary  of 
state  at  Tallahassee,  one  to  the  governor,  and  one  kept  by 

^Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  181. 
*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  42,  p.  434. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1876  jU 

the  clerk  of  the  circuit  court.  The  "  Board  of  State  Can- 
vassers ",  composed  of  the  secretary  of  state,  the  comptroller, 
and  the  attorney-general,  would  consolidate  and  canvass  the 
votes  for  the  entire  state.^  Such  was  the  legal  scheme  for 
counting  the  votes  cast. 

As  the  momentous  election  day  drew  to  a  close  the  pre- 
cinct officers  prepared  to  give  out  the  result.  Before  mid- 
night their  announcements  had  been  flashed  over  the  country 
by  telegraph.  That  tremor  of  excitement  and  uncertainty 
which  soon  shook  the  entire  nation  as  a  sick  man  with  a 
chill  began  at  an  early  date  to  convulse  Florida.  "  Laus 
Deo  ",  announced  the  Tallahassee  Floridian.  "  Democratic 
Victory.  George  F.  Drew  elected.  2,000  majority  for 
Drew.  Startling  frauds  contemplated."  ^  Senator  Conover 
in  Florida,  however,  complacently  telegraphed  George  Mc- 
Cormick  of  the  Republican  national  executive  committee  in 
New  York :  "  Hayes  has  carried  the  State  ".^ 

Whatever  the  result  had  been  in  truth  the  pronounce- 
ment of  the  vote  as  a  finahty  bade  fair  to  be  far  from  a 
simple  matter.  The  phrase  "  Startling  Frauds  Contem- 
plated "  was  but  a  harbinger  of  the  coming  storm.  There 
was  about  to  develop  in  Florida  a  contest  of  affidavits, 
swearing,  wits,  and  downright  lying  hard  to  parallel  in  our 
political  history.  The  national  election  was  very  close. 
"  The  uncertainty  of  the  result  of  the  election  in  Louisiana 
and  the  uncertainty  of  the  result  in  Florida  produced  the 
most  intense  excitement."  *  A  prominent  Northern  Repub- 
lican telegraphed  Governor  Stearns.  November  8th, — "  Our 
New  York  dispatches  make  everything  depending  on 
Florida  ".     On  the  same  day  Mr.  Chandler  of  the  Republi- 

'  Laws  of  Florida,  Aug.  6,  1868,  Feb.  27,  1872. 

*  Floridian,  Nov.  14,  1876. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  4Sth  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  v.  i,  p.  527. 

*  H.  Rpts.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  140,  p.  80. 


712  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

can  national  executive  committee  telegraphed  Malachi  Mar- 
tin, chairman  of  the  Florida  state  committee, — "  Hayes  de- 
feated without  Florida " ;  and  Martin  immediately  tele- 
graphed the  chairman  of  the  RepubHcan  national  executive 
committee, — "  In  order  to  prevent  frauds  we  must  have 
money.  If  Florida  is  important  authorize  me  to  draw  on 
you  for  $2,000.*  The  New  York  Times  early  on  Wednes- 
day morning,  November  8th,  after  accounting  politically  for 
every  State  in  the  Union  but  Florida,  concluded :  "  This 
leaves  Florida  alone  still  in  doubt.  If  the  Republicans  have 
carried  that  State,  as  they  claim,  they  will  have  185  votes, 
a  majority  of  one."  ^  Political  results  in  Florida  for  once 
had  become  of  decisive  importance  in  national  p>olitics. 

*  Haworth,  The  Hayes-Tilden  Disputed  Presidential  Election,  p.  49. 
'  The  foregoing  telegrams  exhibited  in  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  C,  2nd 
S.,  no.  42,  pp.  434-435. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

The  Result  of  the  Election  of  1876 

The  situation  in  Florida  being  a  critical  one  and  the  con- 
trol of  the  Presidency  of  the  Republic  for  the  next  four 
years  being  involved  in  the  adjustment  of  this  situation, 
leading  politicians  beyond  the  state  quickly  showed  a  re- 
markably live  interest  in  Florida's  electoral  troubles.  Gov- 
ernor Stearns  in  Tallahassee  telegraphed  President  Grant 
on  November  13th,  that  "  Eminent  Democratic  politicians 
are  gathering  rapidly  here  from  adjoining  states,  and  are 
expected  from  the  North.  I  feel  that  I  should  have  the 
counsel  of  eminent  men  in  our  own  party."  ^ 

On  November  8th,  the  day  following  the  election,  W.  E. 
Chandler  left  New  York  for  Florida.  He  was  a  Republi- 
can of  some  prominence  and  went  South  at  the  behest  of 
certain  members  of  the  Republican  national  committee.' 
He  reached  Tallahassee  on  the  12th  of  November,  and  tele- 
graphed immediately  to  several  local  Republican  bosses 
over  the  state :  "  State  is  close  and  you  must  make  efforts 
to  render  every  possible  assistance.  Funds  will  be  on  hand 
to  meet  every  requirement ".  He  then  sent  a  cipher  tele- 
gram to  Zachariah  Chandler  in  New  York,  of  the  Republi- 
can national  committee :  "  Send  $2,000  to  Centennial  Bank 
of  Philadelphia  so  I  can  draw  for  it ".  Two  days  later  he 
telegraphed  in  cipher :  "  Florida  needs  immediate  counsel 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  C.  2nd  S.,  no.  42,  p.  438. 
*H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  v.  i,  p.  470;  Haworth,  The 
Hayes-Tilden  Disputed  Presidential  Election,  p.  54. 

713 


714  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA  ■ 

and  help.  Can  you  send  $3,000  as  well  as  $2,000 — making 
$5,000?  Danger  grave  here."  ^  The  money  was  quickly 
transferred  to  Mr.  Chandler.^ 

Governor  Stearns  professed  to  think  also  that  the  "  dan- 
ger was  grave  ".  He  telegraphed  the  President  of  the 
United  States  for  help.  The  Secretary  of  War,  on  Novem- 
ber 9th,  ordered  General  Sherman  to  concentrate  at  Talla- 
hassee "  four  companies  of  soldiers  at  once  ".  "  Telegraph 
Ruger  to  order  troops  to  be  at  my  disposal,"  stated  a  dis- 
patch sent  to  the  governor  on  the  same  day  by  the  Federal 
marshal  at  Pensacola.^ 

Leaders  in  the  Democratic  party  beyond  the  confines  of 
Florida  exhibited  about  the  same  interest  in  the  situation 
as  did  their  friends,  the  Republicans,  When  Mr.  Chandler 
reached  Tallahassee,  he  found  a  number  of  "  visiting  Demo- 
cratic statesmen"  ahead  of  him.  His  excitement  was  evident 
in  his  message  to  Mr.  W.  A.  Clancy,  of  the  Fifth  Avenue 
hotel  in  New  York.  "  Florida  swarming  with  prominent 
Democrats,"  he  telegraphed.  "  Send  some  Republican  law- 
yers and  eminent  men."  *  He  also  telegraphed  the  private 
secretary  of  presidential  candidate  Hayes,  to  send  to  Flor- 
ida "  Stanley  Matthews  and  others  of  high  character  ".^ 
Chandler's  request  was  promptly  forwarded  to  Matthews  at 
New  Orleans,  and  a  group  of  Republican  "  visiting  states- 
men "  of  the  desired  high  character,  probably,  set  out  at 
once  for  Florida.    The  group  included  ex-Governor  Noyes, 

^  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  42,  pp.  438-9.  In  the  messages 
"  Robinson  "  meant  $3,000  and  "  Jones "  $2,000.  See  Holden  Rpt.  to 
Pottir  Committee,  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  pt.  4,  pp. 
325-85. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45  h  C,  3rd  3.,  no.  31,  pt.  4,  p.  471. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  42,  pp.  435-6. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  438. 

» Ibid.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  v.  i,  p.  470. 


THE  RESULT  OF  THE  ELECTION  OF  1876  715 

of  Ohio;  Attorney-General  John  Little,  of  Ohio;  John  A. 
Kasson,  of  Iowa;  and  General  Lew  Wallace,  of  Indiana. 
General  Francis  Barlow,  Republican,  of  New  York,  ar- 
rived a  few  days  ahead  of  them.  Barlow  claimed  that  he 
visited  Florida  at  the  request  of  President  Grant.^  Ex- 
Governor  Noyes  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Hayes  and 
at  the  time  it  was  considered  that  his  presence  was  particu- 
larly encouraging  to  aspiring  local  politicians  in  Florida. 

The  electoral  situation  in  Florida  was  as  follows:  the 
face  of  returns  as  polled  and  announced  by  precincts  gave 
the  state  to  the  Democrats  by  a  small  majority  for  both 
state  and  national  tickets.^  It  was  the  object  of  the  Repub- 
lican managers  to  prove  fraud  by  Democrats  in  the  casting 
or  counting  of  the  votes,  or  to  induce  by  other  means  the 
Board  of  State  Canvassers  to  refuse  to  count  a  sufficient 
number  of  Democratic  votes  to  give  the  state  to  the  Re- 
publicans. Although  Radicals  controlled  the  polling  and 
counting  of  votes,  the  Conservatives  had  carried  the  elec- 
tion. Thereupon  the  Radicals  who  controlled  both  the  final 
pronouncement  on  the  vote  and  the  national  government 
sought  to  reverse  the  election.  Stripped  of  hair-splitting_ 
this  was  the  situation. 

Each  party  divided  the  state  into  groups  of  counties  and 
put  each  group  in  the  hands  of  attorneys  stationed  at  Talla- 
hassee. Local  leaders.  Radical  and  Conservative,  set  about 
obtaining  affidavits  and  other  forms  of  evidence  from  indi- 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  v.  i,  pp.  1361,  1398. 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  17.  Tilden  presidential 
electors  24,441,  Hayes  electors  24,350.  Drew  (Dem.)  State  ticket 
24,661,  Stearns  (Repub.)  State  ticket  24,119.  This  estimate  is  based 
upon  the  precinct  returns  as  announced  from  the  polling  places.  It 
therefore  includes  such  fraudulent  returns  as  that  from  Archer  Pre- 
cinct. No.  2,  Alachua  County.  The  Democratic  claim  of  2,000  majority 
was  based  upon  purged  reurns  from  Alachua  and  Jefferson  Counties. 


7i6  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

vidual  voters,  precinct  officials,  and  county  officials  to  sup- 
port their  respective  cases  before  the  Board  of  State  Can- 
vassers when  that  body  prepared  to  decide  officially  on 
Florida's  vote.  The  obtaining  of  affidavits  by  both  parties 
was  wholesale — scores,  hundreds,  thousands  piling  up  in 
the  hands  of  political  managers.  All  in  all,  it  was  an  extra- 
ordinary and  colossal  exhibition  of  mendacity.  Almost 
everything  sworn  to  by  one  side,  was  sworn  to  in  opposite 
fashion  by  the  other.  It  is  possible  to  prove  almost  any- 
thing by  logically  following  good  and  selected  sworn  testi- 
mony. Sheafs  of  affidavits  were  gathered  by  Republicans 
from  electors  who  could  not  sign  their  names,  who  were 
under  the  whip  of  unscrupulous  local  leaders,  and  who  prob- 
ably never  witnessed  or  heard  of  the  affidavits  to  which 
they  were  reputed  to  have  so  glibly  and  solemnly  "  fixed 
their  mark  ".  Even  the  "  marks  "  from  some  were  omitted. 
But  all  of  this  farce  and  trouble  was  taken  to  break  down 
and  change  the  announced  result  of  the  election — and  the 
body  to  pronounce  was  two-thirds  Republican.  It  was  the 
Board  of  State  Canvassers. 

This  board  met  pursuant  to  law  on  November  27th,  in 
the  office  of  Samuel  B.  McLin,  secretary  of  state. ^  McLin 
was  a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  a  one-time  deserter  from  the 
Confederate  army.  The  second  member  of  the  board  was 
Dr.  C.  A.  Cowgill,  carpet-bagger  from  Delaware.  He  had 
served  in  the  Union  army.  Both  were  Republicans.^  The 
third  member  was  Attorney-General  William  A.  Cocke,  a 
native  Virginian,  an  old  resident  of  Florida,  a  lawyer  of 
some  repute,  an  historian,  and  a  Democrat.  Times  were 
tense.  As  the  three  men  took  their  seats  about  the  table 
in  the  secretary  of  state's  office  on  this  particular  Novem- 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  413. 

*  An.  Cyclo.,  1876. 


THE  RESULT  OF  THE  ELECTION  OF  1876  jiy 

ber  morning,  they  no  doubt  realized  themselves  to  be  the 
center  of  a  political  storm  that  swept  far  beyond  the  hori- 
zon of  Florida.  McLin  called  Cowgill's  attention  to  the 
press  copy  of  a  telegram  in  a  Baltimore  paper  signed  by 
Cocke.  The  two  men  looked  at  the  telegram  and  then  bit- 
terly regarded  Cocke.  They  passed  it  to  him.  It  read :  "  I 
do  not  think  the  Radicals  can  cheat  the  Democrats  out  of 
the  State ".  Cocke,  glaring  at  his  two  glaring  friends, 
stated  that  his  opinion  had  not  changed.^ 

On  its  first  day  of  meeting  the  Board  of  State  Can- 
vassers did  little  more  than  adopt  rules  of  procedure.  It 
decided  that  visitors  might  be  admitted  to  the  sessions,  that 
as  the  various  county  returns  were  announced,  notice  might 
be  served  that  the  returns  would  be  contested,  that  the  cases 
would  be  heard,  and  that  no  oral  testimony  would  be  al- 
lowed.^ 

The  following  day,  November  28th,  the  returns  for 
presidential  electors  were  canvassed  in  the  presence  of  the 
"  visitors  "  and  counsel  for  the  two  parties.  As  the  vote 
from  each  county  was  announced  notice  was  given  by  the 
leading  attorney  of  one  party  or  the  other  that  the  count 
would  be  contested.  Every  county  heard  from  was  con- 
tested in  this  fashion — the  Democrats  serving  notice  on  ten 
and  the  Republicans  on  twenty-seven.^  Following  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  Presidential  vote  came  that  for  state 
officials. 

County  by  county,  during  the  week  which  followed  the 
first  sitting  of  the  board,  the  returns  were  contested.  The 
time  was  short.     On  December  6th,  according  to  Federal 

^  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  pp.  413-414. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  415.     The   rule   concerning  oral   testimony   was   not   ad- 
hered to. 
3  Ibid.,  pp.  418-423. 


7i8  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

law,  the  Presidential  vote  must  be  cast,  and  therefore  much 
of  the  collected  evidence,  not  worth  its  weight  in  paper  for 
establishing  the  truth,  but  useful  as  a  sham,  was  wisely 
passed  over  in  a  hurry.  Issue  was  actually  joined  between 
Democrats  and  Republicans  over  fourteen  counties,  and  of 
these  fourteen,  the  counties  which  proved  of  deciding  im- 
portance were  Alachua,  Jackson,  Baker,  Hamilton.  Monroe, 
and  Manatee.  It  became  evident  at  an  early  date  that  ihe 
Republican  case  would  be  directed  mainly  to  breaking  down, 
and  throwing  out,  if  possible,  the  returns  from  Jackson 
County,  and  to  establishing  the  returns  from  Alachua 
County.^ 

The  canvassing  board  for  Alachua  County  announced  the 
county  vote  to  be  1,984  Republican  to  1,267  Democratic.^ 
Alachua  had  gone  Republican  in  1872  and  1874  by  about 
800  votes.^  Both  tickets  in  1876  were  more  than  400  votes 
ahead  of  the  returns  in  1874.  The  Democrats  in  1876  did 
not  claim  that  they  had  carried  the  county.  They  claimed 
that  their  opponents  had  dishonestly  added  votes  in  certain 
precincts  in  order  to  swell  the  total  Republican  vote  for  the 
state.  The  greatest  difference  of  opinion  developed  over 
Archer  Precinct  No.  2.  The  announced  result  there  was 
399  Republican  votes  and  136  Democratic*  The  Democrats 
claimed  that  the  ballots  actually  cast  at  Archer  Precinct 
No.  2  gave  them  a  majority,  but  that  the  county  canvassers, 
who  were  Radicals,  had  dishonestly  changed  the  true  re- 
turns by  adding  219  to  the  Republican  vote.  L.  G.  Dennis, 
the  Republican  chairman  of  the  Alachua  County  board, 

'  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  v.  i,  p.  1399. 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  Doc.  Ev.,  p.  24. 
'  Ibid.,  pt.  2,  p.  20. 

*  Ibid.,  Doc.  Ev.,  p.  25. 


THE  RESULT  OF  THE  ELECTION  OF  1876 


719 


afterwards  admitted  on  oath  that  forgery  had  been  perpe- 
trated to  increase  the  Republican  vote  in  this  county/ 

The  proof  offered  by  Democrats  to  the  state  canvassing 
board  of  fraud  perpetrated  at  Archer  consisted  of  a  number 
of  carefully-drawn  affidavits  and  the  original  poll  list.  The 
most  important  affidavit  was  that  of  Samuel  T.  Fleming,  a 
Democratic  "  watcher  "  at  the  polls.  Fleming  was  a  re- 
spected merchant  in  Alachua  County,  and  claimed  that  he 
knew  by  sight  the  voters  at  Archer  Precinct.  He  had  been 
present  at  the  polls  all  day  and  had  methodically  counted 
the  voters  as  they  cast  their  ballots.  He  affirmed  on  oath 
that  the  Republican  report  for  the  precinct  was  230  votes 
more  than  the  number  who  voted.^  If  Fleming  was  right, 
the  ballot-box  had  been  "  stuffed  "  or  a  miscount  had  been 
made.  The  Democratic  counsel  further  presented  the  origi- 
nal poll  list  of  registered  voters  signed  by  the  Republican 
inspectors  themselves.  The  poll  list  accompanying  the  Re- 
publican announcement  of  the  returns  was  a  copy  unsigned 
and  containing  219  names  more  than  were  on  the  original 
list.'  The  Democrats  claimed  that  these  names  had  been 
fraudulently  added  to  correspond  with  the  Republican  dec- 
laration of  the  vote.  To  clinch  this  contention  a  sworn 
statement  was  presented  from  one  precinct  official  who  as- 
sisted in  making-up  the  precinct  returns.  He  declared 
that  318  ballots  had  been  found  in  the  box  from  Archer  Pre- 
cinct No.  2,  and  not  535  as  announced  by  the  county  board. 
Furthermore,  one  of  the  county  canvassers  declared  that 
the  Archer  Precinct  return  "  had  been  clearly  and  conclu- 
sively proven,  and  shown  to  this  board  to  have  been  fraud- 
ulently and  falsely  increased,  changed,  altered,  and 
forged  ".* 

'  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  v.  1,  pp.  490-95. 

'  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C.  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  426. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  60-70,  177.  *  Ibid.,  Doc.  Ev.,  pp.  31,  41,  49,  53. 


720  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  backbone  of  Republican  defense  for  this  county  con- 
sisted of  affidavits  from  persons  saying  simply  that  they 
had  voted  at  the  election.  On  its  face  the  defense  was  weak 
because  of  the  character  of  the  documents  submitted. 
"  Batches  of  affidavits  "  were  submitted,  "  the  text,  signa- 
tures, and  cross-marks  all  in  the  same  handwriting,  the 
names  duplicated  and  the  cross  marks  sometimes  omitted 
— made  by  men  so  densely  ignorant  as  to  be  unable  to  verify 
the  truth  of  their  statements  ".^ 

Did  fraud  occur  in  Archer  Precinct?  If  so,  where  and 
how?  Did  the  alleged  fraud  in  itself  vitally  affect  the  out- 
come in  Florida?  In  regard  to  the  last  query,  if  the  alleged 
fraudulent  votes  had  not  been  counted,  the  Republicans 
would  have  lost  the  state.  They  needed  them  to  win.  The 
point  of  the  Democratic  contention  was  that  fraud  had  been 
perpetrated  not  in  the  voting  but  in  the  announcement  of 
the  results  of  the  voting.  The  point  of  the  Republican  reply 
was  that  the  apparent  "  irregularities  "  in  the  Republican 
position  were  due  to  robbery  of  the  ballot-box  by  Demo-r 
crats  before  it  reached  the  county  canvassing  board.  The 
Republican  precinct  inspectors  swore  that  their  announce- 
ment of  the  vote  at  the  closing  of  the  polls  at  Archer  Pre- 
cinct was  535,  which  corresponded  to  the  pronouncement  by 
the  county  board.  Several  Democrats  present  when  the  an- 
nouncement was  made  swore  that  the  election  inspectors 
had  announced  316  votes  cast.  Somebody  lied.  Demo- 
cratic witnesses  later  stood  the  test  of  cross-examination 
better  than  Republican  witnesses,  and  Republican  officials 
afterwards  swore  that  they  had  cheated.  Most  investi- 
gators will  be  inclined  to  conclude  after  examining  the  evi- 
dence in  the  case,  that  the  fraud  was  perpetrated  in  count- 
ing up  the  vote  of  Archer  Precinct  No.  2  and  that  the 
Republicans  perpetrated  it. 

^  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  no.  611,  Doc.  Ev.,  p.  11. 


THE  RESULT  OF  THE  ELECTION  OF  1876 


721 


In  Jackson  County  the  face  of  returns  as  they  were  pre- 
sented to  the  state  canvassing  board  was  regular,  complied 
with  the  law,  and  gave  the  Democrats  a  majority  of  about 
100  on  state  and  national  tickets.^  The  Republicans  claimed 
that  fraud  and  violence  had  been  perpetrated  by  Democrats, 
and  that  such  procedure  had  both  deterred  Republicans 
from  voting  and  changed  the  vote  in  the  ballot-boxes  of 
two  precincts  after  it  had  been  cast.  They  claimed  that  in 
the  Campbellton  Precinct  and  the  Friendship  Church  Pre- 
cinct either  the  ballot-boxes  had  been  robbed  by  Demo- 
crats or  many  of  the  Republican  votes  cast  had  not  been 
counted ;  that  the  election  officials  had  not  complied  with  the 
law  in  conducting  the  election  at  the  polls ;  that  one  of  the 
ballot-boxes  had  been  "  out  of  sight  of  the  voter  and  the 
public  " ;  and  that  the  final  counting  of  the  votes  cast  in 
Friendship  Church  Precinct  had  been  irregular,  careless, 
and  conducted  "  two  miles  away  "  from  the  polling  place.' 
The  last  charge — i.  e.,  counting  the  votes  at  a  place  other 
than  the  polling  place — was  substantiated  by  the  proven 
facts  in  the  case  as  set  forth  by  the  election  inspectors  them- 
selves. The  evening  being  chilly  and  the  polling  room  being 
without  fireplaces  or  proper  lights,  the  three  inspectors  had 
gone  to  count  the  votes  in  a  nearby  house,  in  a  room  which 
they  swore  was  "  open  to  the  access  of  any  person  or  per- 
sons." ' 

Republican  affidavits  attempted  to  prove  that  the  Friend- 
ship Church  and  Campbellton  Precincts'  returns  were  viti- 
ated by  intimidation  of  Republican  voters  and  irregularity 
of  election  officials.     There  had  been  no  serious  intimida- 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  Doc.  Ev.,  p.  164.  Drew  received 
1.397;  Stearns,  1,295.  The  Republican  electors  1,299;  the  Democratic 
electors  1,397. 

'  Ibid.,  pp.  165-260. 

» Ibid.,  p.  205. 


722 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


tion ;  there  had  been  some  irregularity.  The  irregularity  in 
question  did  not  in  itself  indicate  fraud.  //  the  Friend- 
ship Church  and  Campbellton  returns  were  thrown  out,  the 
Republicans  would  gain  j/5  votes  and  could  carry  the  state 
without  altering  the  face  of  returns  from  the  other  coun- 
ties.^ The  assault  on  Jackson  County  was,  therefore,  of 
peculiar  importance. 

In  Hamilton  County,  the  Republicans  charged  the  pre- 
cinct election  officials  with  irregularity  in  canvassing  the 
vote  in  Jasper  Precinct  No.  2.  This  precinct  had  given  the 
Democrats  a  majority  of  138  votes  out  of  the  508  cast 
there. ^  The  entire  county  had  gone  Democratic  by  290 
votes  out  of  940  votes  cast.*  The  irregularity  charged  con- 
sisted in  the  adjournment  of  the  precinct  board  before  it 
had  technically  completed  a  canvass  of  the  votes.  It  was 
also  charged  that  legally  unauthorized  persons  had  been  al- 
lowed to  assist  in  counting  the  votes.  The  attack  on  Ham- 
ilton County  was  extremely  weak.  The  face  of  returns 
was  regular  and  gave  the  Democrats  a  substantial  majority. 
There  is  no  very  credible  evidence  of  either  intimidation 
or  fraud.* 

For  Monroe  County  the  Republicans  claimed  that  the 
Democrats  had  won  by  fraud  and  violence.  The  Demo- 
cratic state  ticket  had  received  1,052  votes  to  the  Republi- 
can 970.  The  Democratic  Presidential  ticket  had  received 
1,047  votes  to  the  Republican  990.'  The  principal  point  in 
controversy  was  the  return  of  Precinct  No.  3  in  Key  West. 

^  Compare  tables  of  Jackson  County  precinct  returns  and  state  vote, 
Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  pp.  18-19;  Doc.  Ev.,  p.  204. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  151-155- 

'  Ibid.,  pt.  2,  pp.  18-19. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  10,  pp.  59-75;  44th  C,  2nd  S., 
no.  35,  pt.  I,  pp.  131-151. 

^  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  Doc.  Ev.,  p.  408. 


THE  RESULT  OF  THE  ELECTION  OF  1876 


7^1 


The  Republicans  would  throw  out  this  precinct  because  of 
irregularity  in  the  counting  of  the  votes.  The  board  had 
adjourned  before  the  count  was  technically  complete.^  Poll- 
ing officers  were  hungry  and  tired  out  by  nightfall  on  No- 
vember 7th,  and  the  more  easy-going  officials  in  Monroe 
County  and  elsewhere  might  well  have  put  off  formally 
counting  and  certifying  votes  until  next  morning.  The  claim 
was  made  by  Democrats  and  even  Republicans,  however, 
that  such  irregularity  was  purposely  arranged  before  the 
election  in  order  to  give  the  Republican  county  and  state 
canvassers  legal  grounds  for  changing  election  results  in 
their  favor  when  such  changes  were  necessary. 

In  Manatee  the  returns  were  regular  on  their  face  and 
gave  the  Democrats  a  heavy  majority.  The  Republicans 
claimed  that  the  election  had  not  been  regular  because  the 
county  officials  had  not  complied  with  the  law  in  revising 
the  registration  lists  or  in  properly  designating  the  polling 
places  or  in  appointing  the  precinct  election  boards.  These 
allegations  were  well  substantiated ;  but  the  Democratic  reply 
was  that  the  people  of  Manatee  had  been  honest  in  their 
actions,  and  had  been  forced  to  proceed  in  irregular  fashion 
in  order  to  be  heard,  as  the  Republican  state  administration 
had  refused  deliberately  to  appoint  a  county  judge,  who 
under  the  law  was  the  official  to  make  preparations  for  elec- 
tions.^ 

In  Baker  County  the  situation  was  more  complex.  From 
that  county  three  sets  of  returns  had  been  sent  to  the  con- 
vassing  board  at  Tallahassee.  According  to  the  state  law 
the  county  canvassing  board  was  composed  of  the  county 

"^  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  Doc.  Ev.,  p.  411;  H.  Misc. 
Docs.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  81-96. 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  Doc.  Ev.,  pp.  401-407;  H.  Misc. 
Docs.,  44th  C,  :nd  S.,  no.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  97-110. 


724  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

judge,  the  clerk  of  the  circuit  court,  and  a  justice  of  the 
peace.  The  judge  must  call  the  board  together,  and  the 
board  must  convene  and  canvass  within  six  days  after  the 
election.  In  case  the  judge  or  the  clerk  were  unable  to  act 
the  sheriff  was  to  take  the  place  of  either.  The  judge  in 
Baker  County  was  a  Republican;  the  clerk  and  the  justice 
of  the  peace  were  Democrats.^  The  judge,  Driggers,  call- 
ing a  meeting  of  the  board  on  the  I3th,^  the  last  day  pos- 
sible under  the  law,  left  the  county.  Baker  County  had 
gone  Democratic  by  a  140  majority  out  of  the  380  votes 
cast.  The  clerk  suspected  that  the  object  of  the  judge  in 
postponing  the  counting,  was  to  have  the  returns  forfeited 
by  not  being  canvassed  within  the  legal  time.  He  therefore 
met  with  the  justice  of  the  peace  on  November  the  loth, 
made  up  a  set  of  returns,  and  sent  them  to  Tallahassee.  This 
was  certificate  number  one.^ 

Judge  Driggers  in  the  meantime  returned  to  Baker 
County,  but  on  November  13th  he  refused  to  canvass  the 
votes  with  the  clerk  and  the  justice  of  the  peace.  The 
sheriff  likewise  refused.  Both  Driggers  and  the  sheriff 
were  Republicans.*  This  day  was  the  last  day  to  act 
legally.  The  clerk  and  the  justice,  complying  with  the  call 
of  the  judge  but  not  meeting  with  him,  because  he  would 
not  meet  with  them,  met,  canvassed  the  votes  a  second  time, 
and  sent  the  returns  to  Tallahassee.  This  was  certificate 
number  two.* 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  pp.  236,  239. 

t*  Ibid.,  Doc.  Ev.,  p.  yy ;  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  35,  pt.  3, 
p.  69. 

» Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  Doc.  Ev.,  p.  78;  H.  Misc.  Docs., 
45th  C,  1st  S.,  no.  10,  pp.  40-48;  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  35,  pt.  i,  pp.  284- 
300. 

♦  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  10,  pp.  40-41. 

•  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  10,  pp.  41-42. 


THE  RESULT  OF  THE  ELECTION  OF  1876  725 

The  judge  on  this  day  ordered  the  sheriff  to  take  the 
place  of  the  clerk  on  the  county  canvassing  board,  saying 
that  "  they  [Republicans]  were  beat  in  the  State  and  some- 
thing must  be  done  "  and  that  "  he  proposed  to  have  a  can- 
vass by  himself  ".  The  Sheriff  inquired  how  he  could  ob- 
tain a  justice  of  the  peace  to  act  with  him.  Driggers  re- 
plied that  "  he  had  got  it  alright,  that  he  had  a  commission 
for  Bill  Green  as  a  justice  of  the  peace  ".^  The  Governor 
could  create  such  officers  at  pleasure.  Bill  Green  was  a 
negro  of  the  locality  who  for  the  occasion  became  a  justice 
of  the  peace. 

The  Republican  judge  and  the  purged  and  reconstituted 
board  consisting  of  himself,  the  Sheriff,  and  Bill  Green 
met,  canvassed  the  votes,  threw  out  completely  the  returns 
from  the  two  important  precincts  which  had  been  carried 
by  the  Democrats — because,  said  the  sheriff,  "  zve  heard 
there  zvas  intimidation  "  ^ — and  declaring  the  vote  of  Baker 
County  to  be  130  Republicans  to  89  Democrats  sent  the  re- 
turns in  to  Tallahassee.^  This  was  certificate  number  three, 
and  this  was  the  certificate  accepted  by  Republicans  and  the 
state  canvassing  board.  If  this  third  canvass  were  accepted, 
the  Republican  party,  on  the  face  of  the  returns,  would  have 
a  majority  of  the  state's  votes;  if  rejected  and  the  Demo- 
cratic canvass  accepted,  the  Democratic  party  would  have 
a  majority  on  the  face  of  returns.*  Thus  the  vote  of  Baker 
County  was  important  in  the  legal  scheme  of  things,  and  as 
Bill  Green,  negro,  was  the  deciding  factor  in  making  the 
Republican  certificate  regular  on  its  face.  Bill  Green  nomin- 
ally played  a  telling  part  in  electing  a  president  of  the 

•  H.  Ri>ts.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no    140.  pp.  13-14. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  4Sth  C,  1st  S.,  no.  10,  p.  46. 

•  5"^M.  Rl>ts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  Doc.  Ev.,  p.  76. 

*  Compare  with  official  s  atement  of  canvassing  board,  Sen.  Rpts., 
44th  C,  ;2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  pp.  17- ig. 


726  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

United  States.  Yet  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the 
Radical  state  canvassing  board  in  Tallahassee  would  have 
decided  as  it  did  regardless  of  Bill  Green  or  even  Baker 
County. 

What  principle  would  be  adhered  to  by  the  Board  of 
State  Canvassers  at  Tallahassee  in  determining  the  dis- 
puted returns? 

Under  the  state  electoral  law  as  amended  February  2nd. 
1872,  the  board  was  given  authority  to  omit  a  return 
from  the  count  "  if  any  such  return  shall  be  shown  or  shall 
appear  to  be  so  irregular,  false  or  fraudulent  that  the  board 
shall  be  unable  to  determine  the  true  vote."  ^  How  far  the 
canvassers  might  go  in  establishing  the  true  character  of 
the  returns  was  not  set  forth  in  the  law.  Should  the  board 
exercise  judicial  powers,  that  is,  go  behind  the  face  of 
returns  as  received  in  Tallahassee  from  the  county  can- 
vassers, throwing  out  only  those  county  returns  "  irregular, 
false,  and  fraudulent "  on  their  face? 

Precedent  could  be  found  for  either  interpretation  of  the 
board's  powers,  but,  as  clearly  shown  by  Dr.  Haworth,  the 
latest  and  strongest  precedent  supported  discretionary  and 
not  ministerial  powers.^  Attorney-General  Cocke,  who  now 
sat  as  the  Democratic  member  of  the  board,  had  rendered 
an  opinion  two  years  before  that  the  state  canvassers  might 
lawfully  go  behind  county  returns,^  and  acting  upon  this 
interpretation,  the  board  had  in  1874  used  discretionary 
powers  in  deciding  a  disputed  election.* 

The  final  arguments  by  attorneys — Republican  and  Demo- 
cratic— before  the  Board  of  State  Canvassers,  were  pre- 
sented on  December  4th.     General  Biddle  of  Philadelphia 

•  Laws  of  Florida,  chap.   1868,  sec.  4. 

*  Haworth,  The  Hayes-Tilden  Disputed  Presidential  Election,  p.  66. 

•  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  pp.  27-28. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  5- 


THE  RESULT  OF  THE  ELECTION  OF  1876 


727 


closed  the  Democratic  case.  He  claimed  for  the  Tilden 
electors  23,034  votes  against  21,767  for  the  Hayes  electors. 
"  If  the  return  of  Jefferson  County  is  purged,  as  suggested  ", 
he  concluded,  "  there  will  be  deducted  from  the  Hayes  vote 
952,  which  would  leave  the  majority  of  the  Tilden  electors 
in  the  State  2,219  ".^ 

The  Board  of  State  Canvassers,  took  final  action  on  De- 
cember 5th  and  6th.  Cocke  combated  Cowgill  and  McLin 
on  the  more  important  points.^  The  vote  stood  two  to  one. 
Cowgill  wavered  several  times  in  giving  his  decision.  The 
board  refused  to  throw  out  the  returns  from  Archer  Pre- 
cinct No.  2,  in  Alachua  County,  in  the  face  of  glaring  proof 
of  disgraceful  fraud,  but  rejected  entirely  Friendship 
Church  Precinct  and  Campbellton  Precinct  in  Jackson 
County  on  less  worthy  evidence.  It  refused  to  accept  the 
clerk's  returns  from  Baker  County,  but  accepted  the  Re- 
publican judge's  returns  with  the  two  precincts  carried  by 
Democrats  omitted.  It  deducted  Democratic  votes  from 
the  Hamilton  County  returns  and  threw  out  entirely  Demo- 
cratic Precinct  No.  3  in  Monroe  County,  but  refused  to 
consider  the  same  irregularities  and  more  palpable  fraud 
charged  against  Republicans  in  Leon  County,  Jefferson 
County,  and  Duval  County. 

The  board  did  not  use  discretionary  powers  consistently 
in  merely  purging  the  precinct  returns  of  dishonest  votes. 
When  to  the  advantage  of  the  majority,  precinct  returns 
were  purged,  or  when  to  the  advantage  of  the  majority 
precinct  returns  were  thrown  out  entirely.  The  proceed- 
ings suggested  strongly  the  simple  principle  of  "  tails  I 
win  and  heads  you  lose  ".' 

"^  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  Doc.  Ev.,  pp.  8-18. 
'  Ibid.,  pt.  2,  pp.  9-10. 

•  See  an  interesting  comment  made  after  the  canvass  by  Sam.   B. 
McLin,  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  v.  2,  pp.  98-99. 


728  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

The  board  canvassed  the  returns  from  twenty-six  out  of 
the  thirty-eight  counties  on  the  face  of  the  returns/  The 
returns  from  the  other  twelve  counties  were  changed  ma- 
terially. It  deducted  489  Republican  votes  from  the  twelve 
counties,  and  15 19  Democratic  votes.  The  reduction  of 
the  Democratic  vote  was  as  follows :  29  votes  from  Clay 
County;  236  from  Manatee  County;  404  from  Hamilton 
County;  401  from  Monroe  County;  13  from  Alachua 
County ;  and  436  from  Jackson  County. 

"At  a  little  after  twelve  o'clock,  Tuesday  night  (De- 
cember 6th),  the  board  by  a  unanimous  vote  declared  the 
State  canvass  concluded  ",  stated  McLin.  The  Clerk  was 
"  ordered  to  prepare  a  certificate  of  the  result  "^ 

By  thus  judiciously  shearing  down  the  Conservative  vote 
the  canvassing  board  announced  on  December  6th  that  the 
Republicans  had  elected  their  National  ticket  by  a  majority 
of  920  votes,  the  Governor  by  458  votes,  the  Lieutenant 
Governor  by  283  votes,  the  Congressman  from  the  First 
District  by  294  votes,  and  the  Congressman  from  the  Second 
District  by  141  votes.^ 

The  board  adjourned  after  regularly  issuing  certificates 
of  election  to  the  Republican  presidential  electors,  one  of 
whom  was  a  negro.  On  December  6th  these  electors  met 
and  cast  their  votes  for  Hayes  and  Wheeler.*  On  this 
same  day  the  Democratic  electoral  candidates,  claiming  that 
they  had  been  lawfully  elected  in  spite  of  the  pronouncement 
of  the  board  against  them,  met  and  cast  their  votes  for 
Tilden  and  Hendricks.'  Each  group  of  electors  forwarded 
its  decision  to  Washington. 

^  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  pp.  9-10. 

2  Ihld.,  p.  10. 

» Ibid.,  p.  18. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  29. 

»  H.  Rpts.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  140,  p.  8, 


THE  RESULT  OF  THE  ELECTION  OF  1876  729 

The  first  chapter  in  the  electoral  contest  thus  closed 
with  victory  for  the  Radicals.  Disgraceful  dealing  had 
gone  on  in  Florida.  Both  Democratic  and  Republican 
"  visiting  statesmen  ",  some  of  them  of  reputed  high  posi- 
tion intellectually  and  socially,  came  to  Florida  in  the 
interests  of  their  party.  Most  of  them,  particularly  the 
Republicans,  succeeded  before  leaving  in  playing  the  parts 
of  pettifogging  and  hair-splitting  politicians  and  rank  par- 
tisans. The  Democrats  were  at  least  dealing  with  a  better 
case  in  law  and  in  fact.  They  had  won  the  election  on  the 
face  of  returns  and  were  able  to  show  good  proof  of  having 
won  it  fairly. 

The  record  that  remains  of  the  activity  of  "  visiting  states- 
men "  in  Florida  on  this  occasion  plainly  shows  that  most, 
if  not  all,  of  them  were  utterly  unscrupulous  in  their  ef- 
forts to  achieve  victory.  Both  groups  received  funds  from 
beyond  the  state  to  aid  them  in  producing  political  results 
within  the  state.  Both  groups  kept  up  constant  communi- 
cation through  cipher  telegrams  with  party  leaders  in  the 
North.  Both  groups  said  in  these  cipher  messages  things 
which  they  could  not  say  publicly  then  or  after  without  com- 
promising somebody's  personal  reputation.^  The  Demo- 
cratic agents  attempted  to  induce  Colonel  Pelton — Mr. 
Tilden's  nephew — and  Mr.  Henry  Havemeyer  of  New  York, 
to  bribe  a  Republican  member  of  the  State  Canvassing  Board 
by  the  payment  of  first  $100,000  and  then  $50,000.^     The 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  pt.  4,  pp.  325-85.  Telegrams 
from  Democrats  asking  for  money,  see  pp.  345,  346,  350,  360. 

'  H.  Rpts.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  140,  p.  73 ;  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C, 
3rd  S.,  no.  31,  pt.  2,  pp.  221-246;  pt.  4,  pp.  176,  177,  352,  353,  357. 
Manton  Marble  and  C.  W.  Wooley  were  the  Democratic  agents  in 
Florida  who  exchanged  the  dispatches  with  Col.  Pelton  and  Mr. 
Havemeyer.  The  former  was  acting  secretary  of  the  Democratic 
national  committee.  Pelton  approved  of  the  proposition  but  owing  to 
dissension  between  Wooley  and  Marble  the  attempted  bribing  was 
delayed  until  too  late.  See  Haworth,  Hayes-Tilden  Disputed  Presi- 
dential Election,  pp.  318-319. 


730  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

Republican  agents  offered  the  Democratic  member  of  the 
canvassing  board  a  "  foreign  mission  "  if  he  would  cease 
his  opposition/  Probably  payments  of  money  by  Republi- 
can managers  and  certainly  promises  of  political  office  from 
the  Republican  administration  helped  the  Republican  can- 
vassing board  to  reach  the  decision  it  did  reach  and  helped 
local  party  workers  throughout  the  State  to  manufacture 
evidence  for  the  reversing  of  electoral  results  where  un- 
favorable.^ The  Republican  chairman  of  the  canvassing 
board  testified  shortly  after  the  election :  "  Wm.  E. 
Chandler  came  to  me  and  stated  that  if  the  State  went  and 
was  canvassed  for  Mr.  Hayes  .  .  .  Dr.  Cowgill  and  my- 
self would  be  taken  care  of  and  there  was  no  doubt  of  it  ". 

Most  of  the  Republicans  prominently  identified  with  the 
Florida  case — whether  in  stuffing  ballot  boxes,  falsifying 
certificates  and  poll  lists,  swearing  to  lies,  or  superintend- 
ing the  case  at  Tallahassee  in  sanctimonious  and  high- 
minded  fashion — most  of  such  received  substantial  office. 
In  political  parlance  they  were  "  taken  care  of  ". 

General  Francis  C.  Barlow  of  New  York  became  dis- 
gusted with  his  work  before  it  was  over.  He  confessed  to 
his  fellow  Republicans  that  the  Democrats  had  fairly  elected 
the  state  ticket  and  very  probably  the  Presidental  ticket.^ 
Barlow  lost  favor  among  his  fellow  Republicans  and  became 
a  suspect  from  that  moment.  "  I  cannot  answer  for  the 
idiosyncrasies  of  Barlow ",  said  Chandler.  Barlow  was 
simply  trying  to  be  honest.  He  received  no  recompense 
from  the  Republican  party.  Mr.  Chandler,  himself,  un- 
fortunately wrote  a  pamphlet  reflecting  upon  Mr.   Hayes. 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  4Sth  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  pt.  4,  p.  357. 

*  For  example  see  testimony  ox  L.  G.  Dennis,  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  4Sth 
C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  pt.  4,  p.  555. 

»  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  v.  i,  pp.   1362,  1366,  1369, 
1388;  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  4,  pp.  12-13. 


THE  RESULT  OF  THE  ELECTION  OF  1876 


731 


He  received  nothing.  Mr.  Cowgill  of  the  canvassing 
board  had  wavered  in  giving  his  decision.  He  received 
nothing.^ 

On  the  other  hand  ex-Governor  Noyes  was  appointed 
Minister  to  France;  Mr.  Kasson,  Minister  to  Austria;  Gen- 
eral Lew  Wallace,  Minister  to  Turkey;  Governor  Stearns, 
Federal  Commissioner  at  Hot  Springs,  Arkansas;  John 
Varnum,  a  good  position  in  the  Federal  land  office;  Samuel 
B.  McLin  of  the  state  canvassing  board,  justice  of  New 
Mexico;  Joseph  Bowes,  who  stuffed  a  ballot  box  in  Leon 
County  and  to  escape  arrest,  fled  the  state,  a  position  in  the 
treasury  department,  Washington;  R.  H.  Black,  who  helped 
forge  the  registration  list  in  Alachua  County,  a  position  in 
the  custom  house,  Philadelphia;  Thomas  W.  Vance,  who 
aided  Black,  a  position  in  the  auditor's  office,  Washing- 
ton; L.  G.  Dennis,  Republican  boss  of  Alachua  County 
who  confessed  to  fraud,  a  position  in  the  Federal  treasury 
department " — and  so  on.  Little  is  to  be  gained  by  increas- 
ing the  list  of  rewards. 

What  happened  in  the  case  of  the  foregoing  was  logical 
and  does  not  in  itself  prove  reward  for  fraud  perpetrated 
in  Florida.  The  persons  in  question  were  Republicans, 
their  party  had  gained  control  of  the  government  and  ac- 
cording to  the  fixed  principles  of  party  government  as  gen- 
erally practiced  many  of  the  offices  of  government  are  ap- 
portioned out  as  rewards  for  industry.  There  is  some 
truth  in  the  observation  made  at  that  time  by  a  disgusted 
politician.  "  The  American  people,"  he  said.  "  arrange 
themselves  into  political  parties  struggling  in  name  to 
choose  a  President  but  in  fact  to  control  the  enormous  pat- 

*  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  v.  2,  p.  118;  also  testimony 
of  Cowgill  and  Barlow,  v.  i,  pp.  1361-65. 

'  H.  Rpts.,  45ih  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  140,  pp.  21-22. 


732  RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 

ronage  (in  1876,  110,000  offices)  which  the  President  when 
elected  is  obliged  to  distribute  to  his  party  because  he  was 
elected  to  distribute  it."  ^ 

Mr.  McLin,  the  rewarded  member  of  the  Board  of  State 
Canvassers,  afterwards  said: 

At  the  time  the  canvass  was  made  I  was  not  at  any  time 
conscious  of  acting  otherwise  than  right  and  proper.  I  en- 
tered upon  the  canvass  with  the  conviction  that  it  was  my 
privilege  and  duty,  in  a  political  sense,  to  give  the  benefit  of 
every  doubt  in  favor  of  the  Republican  party.  Looking  back 
now  at  that  time,  I  feel  that  there  was  a  combination  of  in- 
fluences that  must  have  operated  most  powerfully  in  blinding 
my  judgments  and  swaying  my  action.  The  conclusion  is  irre- 
sistible that  Mr.  Tilden  was  entitled  to  the  electoral  vote  of 
Florida  and  not  Mr.  Hayes.^ 

Mr.  McLin  and  others  in  Florida  found  themselves  con- 
fronted by  a  pressing  situation  and  not  a  simple  theory. 
Engulfed  in  party  passions  they  drifted  with  the  stream. 
Self-interest  prompted  them  so  to  drift.  Men  are  apt  to 
act  in  this  way.  "  For  the  manner  in  which  men  live  is  so 
different  from  the  way  in  which  they  ought  to  live,"  said 
Machiavelli  to  men  of  an  earlier  age,  "  that  he  who  leaves 
the  common  course  for  that  which  he  ought  to  follow  will 
find  it  leads  to  ruin  rather  than  safety.  For  a  man  who  in 
all  respects  will  carry  out  only  his  professions  of  good,  will 
be  apt  to  be  ruined  among  so  many  who  are  evil."  ^ 

However,  any  adverse  judgment  of  the  canvassing 
board's  decision  should  be  tempered  by  this  fact,  namely, 
that  after  the  board  rendered  its  decision  which  ultimately 
elected  a  president  of  the  United  States,  far  more  conclusive 

*  H.  Rpts.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  140,  p.  64. 

'  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  3rd  S.,  no.  31,  v.  2,  pp.  98-99. 

•  The  Prince,  chap.  15, 


THE  RESULT  OF  THE  ELECTION  OF  1876 


733 


proof  impeaching  its  decisions  was  obtained  by  the  House 
committee  appointed  December  4th,  1876;  the  House  com- 
mittee of  February  5th,  1879,  and  the  so-called  "  Potter 
Committee  of  the  House  ",  which  reported  in  1879.  These 
committees  examined  and  cross-examined  hundreds  of  per- 
sons who  had  taken  part  in  the  election.  The  historian 
to-day  is  in  possession  of  more  conclusive  facts  than  was 
the  Florida  canvassing  board  on  December  5th,  1876. 

Mr.  Drew,  the  Democratic  candidate  for  governor,  now 
appealed  to  the  state  supreme  court  through  his  attorneys, 
George  P.  Rainey,  R.  B.  Hilton,  and  R.  L.  Campbell,  for  a 
writ  of  mandamus.  He  filed  his  petition  for  the  writ  on 
December  13th,  claiming  in  it  that  he  had  received  24,613 
votes  to  his  opponent's  24,116,  and  praying  that  the  court 
order  the  board  to  meet  and  recanvass  the  vote  according 
to  the  face  of  the  returns  received  from  the  counties.^ 

The  supreme  court  immediately  granted  the  writ  of  man- 
damus, which  commanded  the  members  of  the  board  of 
state  canvassers  to  reconvene  and  recount  the  votes  on  the 
face  of  returns.^  McLin  and  Cowgill,  Republican  members 
of  the  board,  replied  that  the  board  had  ceased  to  exist  after 
the  result  of  the  vote  was  declared  and  that  therefore  the 
board  being  non-existent  could  not  reconvene.  They  further 
stated  that  action  had  been  taken  after  due  consideration 
of  worthy  evidence  and  that  the  decision  of  the  board  was 
reached  unanimously.'  This  last  claim  of  unanimity  was 
wrong,  and  McLin  and  Cowgill  knew  it.  The  Democratic 
member.  Judge  Cocke,  had  voted  against  them  in  the  cases 
of  Duval  County,  Jefferson  County,  Manatee  County,  Jack- 
son County,  Monroe  County,  Hamilton  County,  and  Ala- 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  388. 
'  Ihid.,  pp.  390-91. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  393-95. 


734 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


chua  County/  Cocke  now  issued  a  statement  favoring  a 
recount  of  the  votes  on  their  face,  although  he  had  pre- 
viously interpreted  the  law  to  give  discretionary  powers  to 
the  board.'*  He  too  was  feeling  the  weight  of  party  pres- 
sure by  this  time. 

The  supreme  court  quickly  put  aside  the  quibbling  of 
McLin  and  Cowgill  concerning  the  existence  of  the  board. 
The  court  declared  that  they  had  possessed  no  authority  to 
go  behind  the  face  of  the  returns,  stating  that  "  whether 
irregularities  or  fraud  in  an  election  will  authorize  the  re- 
jection of  a  vote  cast  is  a  question  of  law  not  within  the 
power  of  the  board  to  determine  ".^  It  ordered  the  board 
to  reassemble  and  recanvass  the  vote  for  governor  and 
lieutenant-governor  on  or  before  December  27th  and  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  court  decision  rendered.*  The  board 
obeyed  the  court.  Stearns,  Republican,  was  given  23,984 
votes  and  Drew,  Democrat,  24,179.^  A  shout  went  up  from 
Conservatives  in  Florida.  Through  this  pronouncement 
the  executive  branch  of  the  government  passed  into  their 
hands.  The  autumn  elections  had  given  them  control  of 
the  lower  house  of  the  legislature.  Since  the  murder  of 
Senator  Johnson  in  1875  the  Conservatives  had  controlled 
the  Senate.  Radical  rule  had  ended  therefore  for  the  state, 
but  the  Republicans  seated  both  Congressmen  in  1876,"  and 
both  the  United  States  senators  were  Republicans. 

^  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  pp.  9-10. 
'An.  Cyclo.,  1876. 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  pp.  396-399. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  400. 

^  Ibid.,  Doc.  Ev.,  pp.  400-1. 

*  Horatio  Bisbee,  Republican,  over  J.  J.  Finley,  Democrat ;  W.  J. 
Purman,  Republican,  over  R.  H.  M.  Davidson,  Democrat.  Both 
Davidson  and  Finley  preferred  charges  of  fraud  in  the  election  and 


THE  RESULT  OF  THE  ELECTION  OF  1876  y^^ 

Some  people  professed  to  fear  violence  at  the  inaugura- 
tion of  Drew.  Tallahassee  was  filled  with  a  motley  mob  of 
blacks  and  whites  more  or  less  under  the  influence  of  cheap 
liquor  and  wild  political  talk.  Would  Stearns  attempt  to 
disregard  the  ruling  of  the  supreme  court?  "  He  called  a 
consultation  of  the  ring  chiefs  at  the  City  Hotel,"  says 
Wallace, 

and  required  to  know  from  them  whether  they  would  support 
him  should  he  maintain  that  he  was  Governor,  the  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  With 
one  voice  they  all  answered,  "  Yea !"  The  understanding  was 
that  all  the  colored  people  in  the  surrounding  country  should 
be  notified  that  Stearns  would  be  inaugurated  on  the  day  set 
apart  by  the  constitution,  and  they  were  notified  accordingly. 
Some  of  the  carpet-baggers  doubted  the  propriety  of  defying 
a  Republican  Supreme  Court,  but  the  "  Little  Giant "  [L.  G. 
Dennis]  declared  that  if  Stearns  did  not  hold  on  to  the  gov- 
ernment he  would  kill  him.  The  day  before  Drew  was  to  be 
inaugurated  Stearns  saw  many  strange  faces  in  Tallahassee 
among  the  whites,  and  he  began  to  grow  pale  and  talk  weak. 
The  "  Little  Giant "  now  seeing  that  Stearns  was  about  to 
yield  up  the  ghost,  went  out  and  filled  himself  with  the  red 
beverage  of  hell  and  came  to  the  hotel  to  murder  him,  and  he 
would  have  attempted  to  do  so  if  he  had  not  been  locked  in 
a  room  and  detained  until  he  fell  asleep.^ 

The  Democratic  governor-elect  was  peacefully  sworn  into 
office  at  noon  on  January  2nd,  with  due  ceremony  but  amid 
considerable  suppressed  excitement.^  Several  hundred 
white  Conservatives  armed  with  shot-guns  and  rifles  were 

Finley  was  admitted  to  Congress  after  Bisbee  had  served  most  of  the 
term.  See  H.  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  C,  ist  S.,  no.  10;  H.  Rpts.,  45th  C, 
3rd  S.,  no.  95,  passim. 

'  Wallace,  Carpet-hag  Rule,  p.  343. 
'  Floriiian,  Jan.  2,  1877. 


736 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


Stationed  in  nearby  warehouses  during  the  inauguration.* 
Governor  Drew  struck  the  fundamental  note  of  the  new 
period  then  beginning  when  in  his  inaugural  address  he  de^ 
dared :  "  A  Northern  man  by  birth  and  a  Union  man  from 
principle,  I  recognize  that  the  Democracy  of  Florida  in  plac- 
ing me  in  this  position  demonstrates  their  desire  for  a  true 
and  fraternal  union  of  all  sections  of  our  common  coun- 
try ".= 

Soon  after  the  inauguration  ceremonies  the  new  secre- 
tary of  state,  the  new  comptroller,  and  the  new  attorney- 
general  met  as  the  Board  of  State  Canvassers  and  recounted 
the  votes  for  Presidential  electors.  They  declared  the 
Democratic  electors  chosen  by  24,437  ^o  24,343,  whereupon 
the  Democratic  electors  cast  their  votes  a  second  time  for 
Mr.  Tilden,  obtained  the  endorsement  of  the  new  governor 
to  their  certificate,  and  forwarded  their  decision  to  Wash- 
ington.^ Three  returns  were  therefore  received  at  the  na- 
tional capital  from  Florida — one  Republican  and  two  Demo- 
cratic* The  only  return  which  satisfied  the  provisions  of 
the  Federal  and  state  laws  was  the  one  Republican  return. 
It  was  regular  in  every  respect,  although  dependent  on  un- 
scrupulous decisions  by  the  Florida  canvassing  board.  The 
Democratic  electors  who  cast  their  votes  on  December  6th, 
the  legal  day,  had  received  no  certificate  of  election,  and 
legally  they  were  not  entitled  to  vote.  Furthermore,  their 
certificate  sent  to  Washington  lacked  the  endorsement  of 

'  Wallace,  op.  cit.,  p.  344. 

'  Rerick,  Memoirs  of  Florida,  p.  340. 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  611,  pt.  2,  p.  409.  The  highest  vote 
for  a  Democratic  elector  was  24,440;  the  highest  for  a  'Republican 
elector,  23,350.  The  lowest  vote  for  a  Democratic  elector  was  24,437; 
for  a  Republican  elector,  23,344. 

*  Ewing,  E.  W.  R.,  History  and  Law  of  the  Hayes-Tilden  Contest, 
pp.  46-65. 


THE  RESULT  OF  THE  ELECTION  OF  1876 


737 


the  governor.  Th€  Democratic  electors  who  voted  in  Jan- 
uary had  been  declared  elected  by  a  legal  canvassing  board 
in  a  regular  way  and  their  certificate  had  the  endorsement 
of  the  new  governor,  but  the  electors  had  not  voted  on  the 
legal  day.  December  6th.     They  voted  January  19th,  1877.^ 

Therefore,  when  the  Electoral  Commission  at  Washing- 
ton came  to  the  Florida  case  in  February,  by  a  strict  party 
vote  but  in  accordance  with  a  very  reasonable  interpretation 
of  law  and  fact,  it  refused  to  go  behind  the  electoral  vote 
in  Florida,  and  counted  that  state  for  Hayes. ^  Thus  was 
Florida  divided  in  1876  between  Democrats  and  Republi- 
cans. The  state  supreme  court  appointed  under  a  Repub- 
lican administration  was  the  chief  factor  in  forcing  the 
canvassing  board,  appointed  by  a  Republican  administra- 
tion, to  turn  the  government  over  finally  to  the  Democratic 
party. 

As  the  Reconstruction  period  is  measured  in  terms  of  mil- 
itary rule  and  Republican  local  supremacy,  this  episode — 
the  election  of  1876 — marks  the  end  of  the  period  for 
Florida.  Reconstruction  had  been  a  sad  experience,  and  is 
not  yet  forgotten.  For  nine  years  the  state  was  racked  by 
political  wrangling,  violence,  and  mutual  suspicion.  "  The 
first  prerequisite  of  elective  government  is  the  mutual  con- 
fidence of  the  electors."  states  Walter  Bagehot.  This  is 
almost  a  political  axiom.  Certainly  Florida  lacked  this  pre- 
requisite during  Reconstruction.  The  attempt  to  found  a 
commonwealth  government  upon  the  votes  of  an  ignorant 
negro  electorate  proved  a  failure.  It  was  an  injustice  to 
blacks  and  whites.  It  made  the  Solid  South.  Crystallized 
political  opinion  in  this  Union  or  any  other  is  the  sure  indi- 
cation of  impending  trouble.     The  sure  tendency  in  Florida 

*  Sen.  Rpts.,  44th  C,  2nd  S.,  no.  61  r,  Doc.  Ev.,  p.  402. 
'  Haworth,  op.  cit.,  pp.  223-238. 


738 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  FLORIDA 


and  the  other  Southern  states  for  many  years  now  has  been 
toward  eradicating  this  trouble.  The  resolutions  adopted 
by  a  negro  political  meeting  in  Tallahassee  on  the  first 
Fourth  of  July  following  the  defeat  of  the  Republican  party 
in  1876,  reflect  both  the  impending  trouble  then  and  the 
slow  but  sure  tendency  for  peace  since. 

"  We  are  aware  that  recently  in  our  State  as  well  as 
throughout  the  whole  South  a  political  revolution  has 
taken  place,"  ran  the  resolutions,  "  and  it  is  our  hope  that 
now  the  race  issue  in  politics,  with  all  its  accompanying  evils 
will  pass  away,  and  that  intelligence  and  integrity  will 
dominate  without  regard  to  color  or  previous  condition."  ^ 

*  Rerick,  op.  cit.,  p.  341. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL   NOTE 


The  material  for  the  history  of  the  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction  m 
Florida  is  comparatively  limited,  fragmentary,  and  scattered.  The 
most  important  collections  of  both  source  and  secondary  material  are 
to  be  found  in  the  Congressional  Library,  Washington ;  the  State 
House,  Tallahassee;  the  library  of  the  Florida  Historical  Society, 
Jacksonville;  the  library  oi  Columbia  University,  New  York  City;  and 
the  private  library  of  Mr.  Philip  Keyes  Yonge,  Pensacola. 

This  monograph  is  based  upon  the  following  secondary  works  and 
sources : 

COLONIAL  FLORIDA 
Secondary  Works 

Averette,  A.     Unwritten  History  of  Old  St.  Augustine    (1565-1786.) 
233  pp.     (Translations  of  Spanish  documents.) 

Barcia,  A.  G.    Ensayo  Cronologico  de  la  Historia  General  de  la  Flor- 
ida.    1723. 

Bartram,    Wm.      Travels   through    North    Carolina,   .South    Carolina, 
etc.     1792. 

Brinton,  D.  G.    Notes  on  the  Florida  Peninsula.    1859. 

Campbell,  R.  L.    Historical  Sketches  of  Colonial  Florida.     1892. 

Darby,  Wm.    Memoirs  on  the  Geography,  Natural  and  Civil  History 
of  Florida.     1821. 

Dewhurst,  W.  W.    A  History  of  St.  Augustine.     1881. 

Fairbanks,  G.  R.     The  History  of  Florida.    1904. 

Fairbanks,  G.  R.    Florida:  its  History  and  its  Romance.    1898. 

Forbes,  J.  G.    Sketches  of  the  Floridas.     1821. 

Garcillasso  de  la  Vega.    Histoire  de  la  Floride.    1735.     (French  trans- 
lation.) 

Hakluyt,  R.    English  Voyages.     (Maclehose  Edition.)     V.  12. 

Irving,  T.     Conquest  of  Florida.    2  vols.     1835. 

Lowery,  W.     Spanish  Settlements  in  North  Amerixa.    2  vols.     1901. 

Mann,  F.  A.    The  Story  of  the  Huguenots.     1898, 

Mandrillon.    Le  voyageur  en  Amerique.    1782. 

Purchas,  S.    His  Pilgrimes.    V.  12. 

739 


740 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 


Rerick,  R.  H.  Memoirs  of  Florida.  V.  I.  (Fleming,  editor.)  ig02. 
Volume  I  of  this  work  contains  a  valuable  compilation  (of  some 
411  royal  octavo  pages)  on  Florida's  history  from  the  end  of  the 
sixteenth  century  to  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth.  No  other 
work  extant  on  the  subject  presents  anything  like  the  mass  of 
facts,  political  and  economic,  here  compactly  brought  together. 
The  author  wrote  evidently  after  an  industrious  examination  of 
Florida  newspapers,  state  and  Federal  documents,  and  secondary 
works.  Unfortunately  he  failed  to  insert  footnotes  or  references. 
The  study  should  be  used  with  care  because  of  its  many  careless 
and  incorrect  statements. 

Rochefoucaul-Liancourt.     Travels  through  the  United  States.     1799. 

Shea,  J.  G.  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  iti  the  United  States. 
Vols.  I-III.     1886. 

Simms,  W.  G.     The  Lily  and  the  Totem.     (Romantic.)     1850. 

Smith,  Buckingham,  translator.    True  Relations  of  a  Fidalgo  of  Elvas. 

Pamphlet.     The  Impartial  Inquirer.     181 1. 

ANTE-BELLUM  FLORIDA 
Secondary  Works 

Alb  :r ton,  Ed.     The  Florida  Wilds.    1906. 

Coe,  C.  H.    Red  Patriots.    189B. 

Cohen,  M.  M.    Notices  of  Florida  and  the  Campaigns.     1836. 

Fairbanks,  G.  R.    History  of  Florida.     1871.     1904. 

Fairbanks,  G.  R     Florida:  its  History  and  its  Romance.     1898. 

Flint,    T.      The   History   and   Geography   of   the  Mississippi    Valley. 

V.  L    1833. 
Fuller,  H.  B.    The  Purchase  of  Florida.    1906. 
Giddings,  J.  R.     The  Exiles  of  Florida.     1859. 
Gillett,  E.  H.     The  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.     1873. 

V.  II. 
Latrobe,  C.  J.    The  Rambler  in  North  America.    1835. 
Moore- Wilson,  M.     The  Seminoles  of  Florida.    1896. 
Perrine,  H.  E.     A   True  Story  of  Some  Eventful  Years  in  Grandpa's 

Life.    1885. 
Potter,  W.    The  War  in  Florida.    1836. 
Rerick,  R.  H.    Memoirs  of  Florida.    V.  I. 
Scott,  W.  A.    Repudiation  of  State  Debts.     1893. 
Shea,  J.  G.     The  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States. 

V.  III.  . 
Smith,  Geo.    History  of  Wesleyan  Methodism. 
Sprague,  J.  T.    Origin,  Progress,  and  Conclusion  of  the  Florida  War. 

1848.    557  pp. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES  74I 

Walker,  John.     The  Branded  Hand.     1850. 

Williams,  J.  L.    The  Territory  of  Florida.     1837. 

The  History  of  the  Location  of  Tallahassee.     Pamphlet.     1903. 

Sources 

Published  Works 

Long,  E.  C.    Florida  Breezes.    See  p.  13,  n.  supra. 

Murat,  Achille.    America  and  the  Americans.    See  p.  14,  n.  supra. 

Walker,  John.     The  Branded  Hand.     1850. 

State  Documents 

Senate  Journal. 

House  Journal. 

Minutes  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Internal  Improvement  Fund,  begin- 
ning in  1855.     (Fla.  Histor.  Soc.  Jacksonville.) 

Hard,  J.  C.    Law  of  Freedom  and  Bondage.    (Statutes  on  slavery.) 

Journal  of  the  Proceedings  of  a  Convention  to  Form  a  Constitution 
for  the  People  of  Florida.    1838. 

Duval,  J.  P.    Compilation  of  the  Public  Acts  of  the  Legislative  Coun- 
cil of  the  Territory  of  Florida,  prior  to  1840.     1839. 

Thompson,  L.  A.     Manual  or  Digest  of  the  Statute  Law  of  Florida 
1847. 

Pamphlets 

Reply  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Union  Bank.  1840. 
The  Appeal  of  General  Call.    i860. 

Florida  Railroad  Guaranteed  First  Mortgage  Bonds.  1857. 

Internal  Improvement  Bonds  of  the  State  of  Florida.  1850. 

Magasines 

Hunt's  Magazine,  1851,  and  passim. 
Banker's  Magazine,  1859,  and  passim. 
De  Bow's  Review,  passim. 

Newspapers 

The  files  of  Florida  newspapers  issued  before  i86i  are  mostlj'  frag- 
mentary and  incomplete,  but  much  fuller  than  the  files  between  1861 
and  1876.  The  following  files  are  to  be  found  in  the  Congressional 
Library,  Washington;  the  Library  of  the  Historical  Society,  Jackson- 
ville; and  the  private  library  of  Mr.  |Philip  Keyes  Yonge,  Pensacola. 
The  most  important  journals  for  the  ante-bellum  period  are  the 
Weekly  Floridian,  Tallahassee ;  the  Fernandina  East  Floridian,  and 
the  Pensacola  Gazette. 
Fla.  Gazette  (weekly.  St.  Augustine),  1821,  fragmentary. 


742 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 


Floridian   (weekly,  Pensacola),  1821-23,  fragmentary. 

East  Fla.  Herald  (weekly,  St.  Augustine),  1823-26,  fragmentary. 

Fla.  Herald  and  Southern  Democrat   (weekly,  St.  Augustine),   1826- 

1842,  fragmentary. 
Fla.  Intelligencer  (weekly,  Tallahassee),  1826. 
Pensacola  Gazette  (weekly),  1827-53,  fragmentary. 
Key  West  Register,  1829,  fragmentary. 
Fla.  Advocate  (weekly,  Tallahassee),  1829,  fragmentary. 
Fla.  Advocate  (weekly,  Tallahassee),  1829,  fragmentary. 
Weekly  Floridian   (Tallahassee),  1829-60. 
Fla.  Herald   (weekly,  St.  Augustine),  1830-48,  fragmentary. 
St.  Joseph  Times  (weekly),  1840. 

liast  Fla.  Advocate  (weekly,  Jacksonville),  1839-40,  fragmentary. 
Fla.  Sentinel  (weekly,  Tallahassee),  1841-53,  fragmentary. 
Star  of  Fla.  (weekly,  Tallahassee),  1841-45,  fragmentary. 
Key  West  Gazette  (weekly),  1845,  fragmentary. 
Fla.  News   (weekly,  Jacksonville),   1846-57,   fragmentary. 
Fla.  Democrat   (weekly,  Pensacola),  1846. 
Newport  Gazette   (weekly,  Newport),  1846-47. 
Whig  Banner  (weekly.  Palatka),  1846-47,  fragmentary. 
Southern  Journal    (weekly,  Tallahassee),  1846-47,  fragmentary. 
Fla.  Whig  (weekly,  Marianna),  1848,  fragmentary. 
Ocala  Argus   (weekly,  Ocala),  1858-9,   fragmentary. 
Jacksonville  Standard   (weekly),  1859,  fragmentary. 
Weekly  East  Floridian   (Fernandina),  1859-60,   fragmentary. 

United  States  Congressional  Documents 

Sen.  Docs.,  15th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  88,  no.   100,  no.  102,  Jackson's 

invasion. 
H.  Docs.,  15th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  14,  no.  119,  Jackson's  invasion. 
Ex.  Docs.,  15th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  82,  Jackson's  invasion. 
State  Papers.  15th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  35. 
Ex.  Papers.  i6th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  no.  93,  Purchase  of  Florida. 
Ex.  Papers,  17th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  66. 

Ex.  Papers,  i8th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  no.  55,  Purchase  of  Florida. 
Ex.   Papers,   i8th  Cong.,   ist   Sess.,  no.   156;  2nd  Sess.,  no.   ni.     Ex. 

Papers,  19th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  no.  115,  Fla.  Land  Claims. 
Sen.  Docs.,  24th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  no.  199;  2nd  Sess..  no.  33. 
Sen.  Docs.,  25th  Cong.,  3rd  Sess.,  no.  241. 
Sen.  Docs..  26th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  no.  446;  2nd  Sess.,  no.  43. 
H.  Docs.,  28th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  iii. 
Sen.  Misc.  Docs.,  30th  Cong..  2nd  Sess..  no.  58. 
U.  S.  Census.  1850,  i860. 
H.  Docs.,  59th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  357,  V.  H  (Const,  of  Fla.). 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES  743 

THE  CIVIL  WAR,  1861-1865 

■Secondary  Works 

Brevard  and  Bennett.    A  History  of  Florida.    1904. 

Confederate  Military  History.    V.  12. 

Dickson,  Mary  Eliz.    Dickison  and  His  Men.     1890. 

Dunning,  W.  A.    Essays  on  the  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction.     1904. 

Fairbanks,  G.  R.    History  of  Florida.     1904. 

Fleming,  C.  S.    The  Florida  Troops  in  Virginia. 

Livermore,  T.  L.    Numbers  and  Losses  in  the  Civil  War  in  America. 

1901. 
Nicolay  and  Hay.    Abraham  Lincoln.    V.  III. 
Rerick,  R.  H.    Memoirs  of  Florida.    V.  I.     1902. 
Robertson,  F.  L.    Soldiers  of  Florida.     See  p.  94,  n.  supra. 
Scharf,  J.  T.    History  of  the  Confederate  States  Navy.    1887  and  1894. 
Schwab,  J.  C.    The  Confederate  States  of  America.     1901. 
Thomas,  D.  Y.    Florida  Finances.    In  Yale  Review,  Nov.,  1907. 
The  Navy  in  the  Civil  War.     Soley,  Ammen  and   Mahan.     3  Vols. 

1883. 

Sources 
Contemporary  Accounts  and  Memoirs 

Gordon,  G.  H.  War  Diary  of  Events  in  the  War  of  the  Great  Rebel- 
lion.   1882. 

Higginson,  T.  W.    Army  Life  in  a  Black  Regiment.    1870. 

McPherson,  Ed.  Political  History  of  the  United  States  during  the 
Great  Rebellion.    1864. 

Richardson,  S.  P.    Lights  and  Shadows  of  Itinerant  Life. 

Russell,  W.  H.    My  Diary  North  and  South.    1863. 

American  Annual  Cyclopedia.     1861-1865. 

Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War.  Vols.  I  and  IV.  Century  Co. 
1884. 

Civil  War  Papers.    V.  II. 

Diary  of  Gideon  Welles.    1861-65.    3  Vols.     191 1. 

Rebellion  Record.     (Moore,  F.,  editor.)     1861-1865.     12  Vols,    passim. 

United  States  Official  War  Records 

Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion : 

Series  I,  vols,  i,  3,  6,  8,  14,  26  pt.  i,  28  pt.  i,  35  pt.  i,  35  pt.  2,  46  pt. 

2.  47  pt.  I,  47  pt.  3,  49  pt.  2,  52  pt.  I,  52  pt.  3,  53  pt.  I,  53  pt.  2. 
Series  II,  vol.  8. 
Series  III,  vols.  I,  4,  5. 
Series  IV,  vols,  i,  2,  3. 


744 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 


OflScial  (Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Navies  (Naval  War 
Records).    Series  I,  vols.  9,  12,  13,  15,  16,  17,  18,  19. 

United  States  Congressional  Documents 

H.  Rpts.,  36th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  nos.  85,  87,  91. 
H.  Ex.  Docs.,  36th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  nos.  26,  72,  85. 
Sen.  iix.  Docs..  38th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  18. 
il.  Rpts.,  42nd  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  22,  V.  I. 
Report  of  Sect,  of  War  (U.  S.),  1865-66. 
Reports  of  Sect,  of  the  Navy  (U.  S.),  1864-66, 
U.  S.  Official  Directory,  1861. 
Congressional  Globe,  36th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess. 
H.  Rpts.,  42nd  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  22,  V.  I. 

State  Documents 

Laws  of  Florida,  loth,  nth,  and  12th  sessions. 

House  Journal,  State  House,  Tallahassee. 

Senate  Journal,  State  House,  Tallahassee. 

Journal  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Convention  of  the  People  of  Flor- 
ida.   January  3rd,  1861. 

Proceedings  of  the  Convention  of  the  People  of  Florida  at  Called  Ses- 
sions.    1861. 

Report  of  the  Adjutant  General  of  Florida,  1862. 

Reports  of  the  Treasurer  and  Comptroller  of  Florida,  1862-64. 

Florida  Supreme  Court  Reports.     Vol.  XL 

Papers  of  Public  Men 

Moore,  J.  B.    "  Works  of  Buchanan."    Vols.  IX  and  XII. 

Nicolay   and   Hay.     "  Abraham   Lincoln,   Complete  Works."     Vols.   I 

and  II. 
Milton,  John,  Governor  of  Florida,  1861-1865.    Papers,  MSS. 

These  pape.s  are  invaluable  for  a  study  of  Florida  during  the  War. 
Part  of  them  are  in  the  State  House,  Tallahassee  (Supreme  Court 
Library),  and  part  in  the  house  of  Mr.  William  Milton,  Marianna. 
They  consist  of  a  mass  of  letters,  orders,  proclamations,  executive 
forms,  reports,  memoranda,  as  well  as  copies  of  the  governor's  mes- 
sages to  the  legislature. 

Seward,  W.  H.    "Diary,"  Works.    Vol.  V  (Baker  edition). 

Newspapers 

Weekly  Florida  Union  (Jacksonville),  1864-1865. 

Qippings  from  the  New  York  Tribune,  New  York  Herald,  New  York 
Times,  New  York  World,  New  York  Express,  New  York  Sunday 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 


745 


Mercury,  etc.,  which  make  up  the  "  Townsend  Library,"  Colum- 
bia University.  This  is  an  invaluable  collection  on  the  Civil  War. 
Most  of  the  journals  had  special  correspondents  with  the  Union 
armies.  Some  of  these  correspondents,  as  for  instance  Oscar 
'Sawyer,  were  able  men  and  their  letters  show  a  keen  knowledge  of 
what  was  going  on.  The  correspondents  also  sent  to  their  papers 
copies  of  many  official  orders  and  reports  made  on  the  field.  Most 
of  this  latter  material  can  be  found  in  the  Official  Records  of  the 
Rebellion. 

THE  RECONSTiRUCTION  ,PERIOD,  1865-1876 
Secondary  Works 

Brevard  and  Bennett.    A  History  of  Florida.    1904. 

Cox,  S.  S.    Three  Decades  of  Federal  Legislation.    1885. 

Dunning,  W.  A.  Essays  on  the  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction.  1904. 
Reconstruction,  Political  and  Economic.     1907. 

Ewing,  E.  W.  R.    History  and  Law  of  the  Hayes-Tilden  Contest.    1910. 

Flack,  H.  E.    Adoption  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment.     1908. 

Haworth,  P.  L.  The  Hayes-Tilden  Disputed  Presidential  Election. 
1906. 

Herbert,  H.  A.     Why  the  Solid  South.     1890.     (Pasco's  article.) 

King.  Ed.     The  Black  States  of  North  America.    1875. 

Nordhoff,  C.  The  Cotton  States  in  the  Spring  and  Summer  of  18/3. 
1876. 

Pierce,  P.  S.     The  Freedmen's  Bureau.     (Univ.  of  Towa  Studies,  HI.) 

Rerick,  R.  H.    Memoirs  of  Florida.    V.  I.    1902. 

Wallace,  John.  Carpet-hag  Rule  in  Florida.  1888.  Both  a  second- 
ary work  and  a  source.     See  reference  to  this  work  further  on. 

Contemporary  Accounts,  Records,  and  Collected  Documents 

American  Annual  Cyclopedia,  1865-75. 

Appleton's  Annual  Cyclopedia,  1876. 

Fleming,  W.  L.  Documentary  History  of  Reconstruction.  Vols.  I 
and  n. 

Johnson,  Andrew.  Papers,  MSS.  in  the  Congressional  Library.  Wash- 
ington. Very  valuable  for  political  Reconstruction  from  1865- 
1868. 

McPherson,  Ed.  Political  History  of  the  United  States  during  the  Re- 
construction Period.     1871. 

Record  -of  the  Union  Republican  Club  of  Jacksonville.  MSS.  in  the 
library  of  the  Florida  Historical  Society,  Jacksonville. 

Court  Records,  presentments  of  grand  juries  and  miscellaneous  papers, 
MSS.  in  court  houses  of  Leon,  Gadsden.  Jackson  and  Escambia 
counties. 


746  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 

Wallace.  John.  Carpet-bag  Rule  in  Florida.  1888.  This  study  of 
Reconstruction  by  an  intelligent  negro  politician  who  took  an 
active  part  in  State  affairs  is  more  of  a  source  work  than  a  sec- 
ondary work.  Its  greatest  defects  are  careless  and  confused  state- 
ments, lack  of  any  sort  of  literary  proportion  and  marked  bias. 
In  spite  of  these  defects  it  remains  an  invaluable  work  on  the 
iReconstruction  period  in  Florida.  In  the  first  place,  it  contains 
about  forty  important  documents  relating  to  Reconstruction  and 
Republican  rule  in  Florida.  These  documents  were  collected  from 
the  Federal  documents,  the  Florida  House  and  Senate  Journals 
and  the  local  courts.  In  the  second  place,  the  work  is  full  of 
illuminating  though  disgraceful  local  political  gossip  from  one 
in  a  position  to  know  what  he  wrote  about.  In  the  third  place,  the 
work  was  produced  under  the  general  supervision  of  ex-Governor 
Wm.  D.  Bloxham,  Democratic  leader  and  enlightened  politician, 
who  befriended  the  negro  Wallace  and  aided  him  in  producing  this 
volume.  Wallace  was  a  staunch  Republican,  who  admired  Governor 
Harrison  Reed,  but  declared  that  "  the  ascendancy  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  to  the  State  government  in  1877  has  proved  a  blessing 
in  disguise  for  the  colored  people  of  Florida." 

State  Documents 

House  Journal. 
Senate  Journal. 

Minutes  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Internal   Improvement  Fund,  passim. 
Florida  Supreme  Court  Reports.    Vols.  5,  8,  11,  12,  13,  15. 
Journal    of    the    Proceedings    of    the    Convention  .  .  .  held  .  .  .  Oc- 
tober 25th,  1865.    1865. 
Laws  of  Florida.     1866-76. 

Newspapers 

In  Congressional  Library,  Washington : 

Florida  Times  (weekly,  Jacksonville),  October,  1865- July,  1866,  frag- 
mentary. 

Weekly  Florida  Union  (Jacksonville),  1864-1868. 

In  the  library  of  Philip  Keyes  Yonge,  Pensacola: 

Floridian  (weekly,  Tallahassee),  1866-1876.  fragmentary.  A  very  val- 
uable source  because  of  the  character  and  activities  of  the  editor, 
C.  E.  Duke. 

Files  of  the  New  York  Herald,  New  York  Times,  New  York*  World, 
and  New  York  Tribune  from  1876. 

De  Bow's  Review,  1866. 

American  Freedman,  1866. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 


747 


United  States  Congressiotial  Documents  and  Court  Reports 

House  Ex.  Docs.,  38th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  18. 

House  Ex.  Docs.,  39th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  nos.  40,  70. 

House  iRpts.,  39th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  no.  30;  2nd  Sess.,  no.  34. 

Senate  Docs.,  39th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  no.  26. 

Senate  Ex.   Docs.,  39th  Cong.,   ist  Sess.,  nos.  26,  27,  43;  2nd  Sess., 

no.  6. 
House  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  no.  342;  2nd  Sess.,  nos.  56,  57. 

297. 
House  Misc.  Docs.,  40th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  nos.  109,  114. 
House  Rpts.,  40th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  30. 
Senate  Ex.  Docs.,  40th  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  no.  14. 
Senate  Rpts.,  40th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  440. 

House  Ex.  Docs.,  41st  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  142;  3rd  Sess.,  no.  i. 
House  Rpts.,  41st  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  121. 
House  Ex.  Docs.,  42nd  Cong.,  3rd  Sess.,  no.  i. 
House  iRpts.,  42nd  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  22,  vols,  i  and  13. 
Senate  Ex.  Docs.,  42nd  Cong.,  3rd  Sess.,  no.  32. 
House  Docs.,  43rd  Cong.,  ist  Sess.,  no.  6;  2nd  Sess.,  no.  7. 
House  Misc.  Docs.,  43rd  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  16. 
House  Ex.  Docs.,  44th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  30. 
House  Misc.  Docs.,  44th  Cong.,  ist  iSess.,  no.  140;  2nd  Sess..  nos.  35. 

42. 
Senate  Rpts.,  44th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  611. 

House  Misc.  Docs.,  45th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  52 ;  3rd  Sess.,  no.  31. 
House  Rpts.,  45th  Cong.,  3rd  Sess.,  no.  140. 
Senate  Rpts.,  46th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  440. 
House  Docs.,  59th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess.,  no.  357,  v.  2. 
Congressional  Globe,  39th  Cong.,  ist  Sess. ;  40th  Cong.,  2nd  Sess. 
Report  of  the  Post-Master  General,  1867-68. 
Reports  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  1867- 1876. 
United  States  Official  Register,  1867. 
United  States  Supreme  Court  Reports,  91  (Otto,  I). 
United  States  Supreme  Court  Reports,  [03  (Otto  XTTT). 
United  States  Statutes  at  Large,  Vols.  13  and  14. 
Official  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  Series  H,  V.  8. 


INDEX 


Abandoned  property,  381,  382  and 
note. 

Adams,  Capt.  H.  A.  (U.  S.  N.), 
108,  109,  113 

Advertiser,  Mobile,  newspaper,  120 

Advertising  and  printing,  Military 
control  of,  465 

Affidavits,  711,  716 

Agitators,  326,  388,  445,  471 

Agriculturalists,  210,  214 

Alabama,  11,  59,  62,  92,  260,  451, 
454 

Alabama,  troops  from,  77,  79,  80. 
83,  85,  100,  119,  127,  308,  309 

Alabama,  State  f,  property  de- 
stroyed, 324  and  n. 

Alabama,  settlers  from,  11 

Alachua  County,  189,  195,  379,  427, 
431,  468,  494  n.,  496,  514  and  n., 
559,  569,  570,  580,  582,  591,  604, 
612  n.,  640,  642  and  n.,  666,  669, 
677,  708,  715  n.,  719,  731,  733 

Albatross,  U.  S.  ship,  206 

Alden,  Geo.  J.,  477  n.,  493  n.,  548 
n.,  549-552.  552n.,  554  n. 

Allan,  Mr..  640 

Allen,  B.  F.,  Sect,  of  State,  366  n. 

Allen  G.  B.,  434  n. 

Allison.   A.   K.,   Gov.,   332.  333  n.,  | 

334-336  I 

Allison,  Mr.,  579 
Alsop,  Mr.,  278  n. 
American  Aid  and  Homestead  Co 

451 
American   Mission.    Assn.,   386  n.    | 
American    Tract    Society,   386  n.      I 
Amendment  to  U.   S.  Const.,   i3tli.  ' 

411    and    n.,   435,    438.    531.    533;! 

14th,  435-437,   531-532;    15th,  615  I 
Ammunition  surrendered,  329 
Amnesty  Oath,  U.   S.,  360  and  n.,  i 

381  I 

Amnesty  Proclamation,  274,  366      ' 
Amos,  Capt.   (U.   S.  A.),  300  n. 


Anderson,  FA.,  Adj.-Genl..  44 
Anderson.  Ed.,  405  n.,  456  n. 
Anderson.    Maj.-Genl.    Patton.      L'. 

iS.  A.).   195,   226,  260  n.,  264  n., 

265  n.,  303  n. 
Anderson,  Gen.  R.  H.   (C.  S.  A.). 

^27,  131,  138 
Anderson,   Maj.   R.,  at   Charleston. 

74 
Anti-slavery  sentiment,  244 
Apalachicola,  town  of,  24,  91,  144- 

146,  161-164,  198,  202,  330,  338  n.. 

335,  360,  373  and  n.,  404 
Apalachicola  river,  24,  144,  147,  453 
Appointments  by  the  military.  463. 

464  and  n.,  465 
Appointments,  Reed's,  534  and  n.. 

535  and  n. 
Appomattox,  324 
Apprentices,  negro,  409  n.,  419  an'i 

n.,  422,  424,  425  and  n. 
Army  of  Pensacola,   115,  117,  122 
Arrests,  432,  551.  570,  626,  630  n.. 

640-642 
Arrests,  military,  334,  ■^35 
Arsenal   at   Chattahoochee,   seizure, 

7h  72,  75 
Arabian  Nights,  The,  18 
Archer    Precinct    No.    2,    Alachua 

County,  718-720,  727 
Archibald,  Judge,  480,  481  and  n. 
Archives,  Fla.,  336 
Aristocracy,  18-20,  29,  219,  343.  345. 

399,  400  and  n. 
Arkansas,  451 
Armistead,  L.  C,  493  n. 
Arms,   so.   72.   89-92,   292-293.    328- 

329 
Armstrong,   Capt.   J.    (U.    S.    N.), 

of     Pensacola    navy-yard.     1861. 

74.  76-78,  80-82 
Armstrong.  Capt.  (  C.  S.  A.).  260 n. 
Armstrong,   O.   B.,  ne!?ro,  493  n. 
Arnold,    Brig.-Gen.    L.    C.    (U.    S. 
A).  168 

749 


750 


INDEX 


Artillery,  94,  276,  278,  281,  286,  289- 

290,  302,  322,  323  and  n. 
Asboth,   Gen.   A.    (U.   S.   A.).  224, 

257,  265  n.,  307-312,  335 
Astor,  John  jacob,  121 
Asylum,  Insane,  382 
Asylum,    Freedmen,    Orphan,    384- 

38s 
Atlanta,  Ga.,  464,  497,  509,  513 
Austin,  C.  H.,  Treas.,  366  n. 
Austin,  Mr.,  654  n. 
Austria,  731 
Attorney,  District,  254 
Avery,  O.  M.,  434  n. 
Averette,    Unwritten   History,  etc., 

10  n. 


B 

Bacon,  270  and  n.,  272,  329,  403 

Bagdad,  166 

Bagehot,  Walter,  688,  737 

Bahamas,  197 

Bailey,    Brig.  Gen.    J.    (U.    S.    A.), 

312  n. 
Bailey,  W..  191  n. 
Baker  County,  468  n.,  494  n.,  499, 

718,  723-728 
Baker,  Boiling,  636  n. 
Baker,  J.  G.  L.,  332  n. 
Baker,  J.  W.,  332  n. 
Baldwin,  Ra.,  161,  186,  278  and  n., 

279,  281,  284,  297,  304,  310,  329, 

653 
Baldwin  County,  Ala..  310 
Ballots,  1868,  491 
Ballots,  marked.  1876,  697,  698 
Baltimore,  610 
Baltzell,  Judge  Thos.,  414 
Baptists,  19,  237 

Banks,   ante-bellum,   22-23,   26-28 
Bank,     Freedman's     Savings.     382, 

391,  393 
Banks,  176  n.,  178,  179  and  n.,  545, 

656 
Banks,  J.,  C.  S.  Atty..  195,  196 
Barbers  Station,  286  and  n. 
Barlow,  Francis,  of  N.  Y.,  715,  730 
Barnes,  W.  D.,  539,  611  and  n. 
Barnes,  J.,  573 

Barrancas,  see  Fort  Barrancas. 
Barrows,  Rev.  Dr.,  235,  236 
Barry,  Capt.  (U.  S.  A.),  120 
Barton's  Brigade   (U.  S.  A.),  289 
Bartram.   W.,    Travels  in   Florida, 

II  n. 


Bass,  A.  G.,  493  n. 

Bayard,  T.   F.,   Sen,  585,  608 

Bayne  &  Co.,  662 

Bayou  Grand,  310 

Bayou  Mulatte,  310 

Bayport,  309,  329,  498 

Bayuca,  "  He  "  of,  4 

Baza,  Mr.,  232 

Beard,  Col.  J.  (C.  S.  A.),  165,  234; 

Comptr.,    388 
Beaufort,  C.  S.,  391 
Beef,    186,    188,    192,   2x5,  268,  269, 

272 
Beauregard,  Gen.   (C.  S.  A.),  226, 

263,  271,  277,  282,  296,  297 
Bell,  Lt.-Col.  (U.  S.  A.),  238 
Benevolent   Societies,  457 
Benjamin,  J.  P.,  Sec.  of  War,  C.  S. 

A.     145  n.,   146,   147,  227  n. 
Benson,  Sermons  of,  18 
Bible,  320,  529 
Biddle,  Gen.,  726 
Billings,  Liberty,  471,  473,  476    477 

and  n.,   489  and  n.,   490,  494  n., 

496.    499,    500,    514    and    n.,    522, 

523,  524  and  n.,  555,  610,  613,  624, 

666,  675 
Bimini,  "  He"  of,  4 
Birney,     Brig.-Gen.     Wm.     (U.     S. 

A.),  report,  304  n.,  640,  641 
"  Birds  of  Passage,"  476,  477 
Birds,    common    birds    of    Florida, 

6-7 
Bisbee,   H.,  472  n.,  477  n.,  555  n., 

690,  734  n. 
Biscayne  bay,  652,  653 
Ballots,  "  galvanized  ",  708 
Black,  R.  H.,  731 
Black  Code,  395,  405,  408,  418,  421, 

424,  433,  5S6 
Blackwater  river,  166 
Blakely,   Ala.,  supplies,    116 
Blair,   Montgomery,   105,  351 
Blockade,    the,    138.    152,    156.    162. 

^63,  183,  197-202,  206,  313 
Bloodhounds,  261 
Bloxham,  W.  D.,  539  n.,  541  n.,  556, 

619,  620,  625  n.,  628  and  n.,  629, 

633,  635 
Bluff  Springs,  166 
Boards,  registration,  466  476  and  n. 
Board    of    State    Canvassers,    623- 

628,  715,   716,  717,  719.  726,  727, 

728,  729.  732,  733,  734,  736 
Board,    State    Equalization    (tax), 

674  and  n..  765  and  n. 


INDEX 


751 


Board      of      Trade,     Jacksonville, 

534  n. 
Boggs,  Capt.   (C.  S.  A.),  112 
Bohio,  U.  S.  ship,  207 
Bonds,  railway,  657,  658,  659,  661, 

662,  670  and  n. 
Bonds,  State,  177,  178  n.,  546,  600, 

631,  652,  654  and  n.,  655  and  n., 

656  and  n.,  662,  667,  680 
Bosses,  Radical,  666 
Boston   Educa.  Commiss.,  386  n. 
Bowes,  J.,  700,  708,  731 
Bowers,  Capt.  H.  W.,  309  n.,  310  n. 
Boynton,  Judge,  353,  528 
Braddock's  army,  292 
Braddock's  Farm,  307 
Bradley,     Justice,     Fed.     Supreme 

Court,  659 
Bragg,    Gen.    B.    (C.    S.    A.),    103, 

107-113,    117,    119,    121,    127,    133, 

'i^S,  138,  142,  143  n.,  146,  149,  269 
Bradwell,  W.,  negro,  494  n.,  554  n. 
Bradford   County,   43,  468  n.,  469, 

494  n.,  591 
Brannan,  Capt.  J.   M.    (U.   S.  A.), 

71,  73  and  n.,  240 
Bravo,    mayor   St.    Augustine,    159' 
Brazil,  349 

Breckinridge    and     Lane,      Demo- 
cratic Nominees,  45,  46 
Brevard  County.  468  n.,  494  n.,  627 
Brevard,   Col.   T.   W.    (C.   S.   A.), 

229,  636  n. 
Bribery,    611-615,    659-665    and    n., 

729  and  n.,  730 
Brick,  captured,  312 
Brinton,  D.  G.,  Notes,  11  n. 
British,   occupation  of  Florida  by, 

1763,  8;  surrender  of  Florida  by, 

1783,  9 
Brooklyn,  U.  S   ship,  104,  105,  108, 

114 
Brosenham,    Mayor    of   ;Pensacola, 

168 
Brotherhood.   Lincoln,  473,  476  n., 

524,  562,  606 
Bronson,  329,  396 
Brown,  John,  Harper's  Ferry  raid, 

37,  42,  220 
Brown,   Col.   H.    (U.    S.   A.),    104, 

107,  114,  128  n.,  129,  137,  333,  334 
Browne,     Acting-Master      (U.     S. 

N.),  207 
Bryan,  H.,  negro,  493  n. 
Bryant,  Wm.  CuUen,  256 
Byron,  H.,  negro,  559  n 


Byron,  Lord,  Works,   18 
Bryson,  Judge,  560  n. 
Buchanan,  Pres.,  52,  71  n.,  97-100  ■ 
Bullock,  E.  C,  commissioner  from 

Alabama,  59 
Bull  Pond,  457 
Bureau,    Freedmen's  377,  407,  422, 

423,  473,  486,  523,  524,  570 
Burke,  Edmund,  693,  694,  687,  705 
Burning,  171,  173,  174,  279,  284,  304, 

305,  311,  315,  370,  594,  607 
Burritt,  Mr.,  158 
"  Bushwhackers,"    161 
Business,  331,  373  and  n.,  374  and 

n.,  450 
Butler,  J.  W.,  451  n.,  547,  548 


Cabell,  E.  C,  of  Fla.,  324  n. 
Cabinet,   Governor's,  535,   549,  617, 

618  and  n.,  649,  650  n.,  665 
Calahan  Station,  486  n. 
Cale,  land  of,  8 
Call,     Richard     Keith,     Governor, 

message    on    effect    of    Panic    of 

1837,   26,    30;    opposes   secession. 

49-50,  243 
Call,  Wilkinson,  69,  429,  434  n.,  448, 

532,  537  n.,  539  n.,  541  n.,  640  n. 
Calhoun  County.  43,  44,  465,  468  n., 

493  n.,  580,  582 
Calhoun,  J.  C,  517 
Campbellton  Precinct,  721,  727 
Cameron,    Sect,   of    War    (U.    S.), 

121 
Campaign,     political,     i860,     38-46; 

1868,    536.    538;    1870,    620,    621; 

1872,  639 ;  1876,  693-705 
Campaign  contributions,  666 
Campbell,  J.  L..  493  n. 
Campbell,   R.,   Historical   Sketches, 

iin. ;  Commissioner,  80  n.,  100  n., 

733 
Canada,   502 
Canals,  653 
Canvassing  Board,  State,  see  Board 

of  State  Canvassers. 
Capers,  Col.  (C.  S.  A.),  261,  262 
Capital,   territorial,    Pensacola,    12; 

territorial,  St.  Augustine,  12 
Carolinas,     settlers     into     Florida 

from,  15,  20 
Carpet-baggers,  458,  474,   478,  482. 

496,  525  and  n.,  529,  534,  548  n.. 

592,  612,  630,  638,  689,  690 


752 


INDEX 


Carse,  Adj. -Gen.,  549-551 
Catechism,  negro  school,  700,  701 
Catholic,   Roman.   Catholic,   10,   19, 

162,  173 
Cattle,  164,  222,  260,  268,  269,  270  ;., 

280,  300,  301  and  n.,  305,  307,  309, 

312,  313.  329,  591 
Cavalry,  Confederate.  94,  281,  284, 

286,  291  and  n.,  299,  304,  305,  308, 

310,  312,  322,  323  and  n. 
Cavalry,  Federal,  169,  276,  284,  306, 

309-311,  315 
Cedar  Keys,  1861,  144  n.,  145,  151, 

153,  162,  198,  202,  20-6,  233,  265  n., 

278,  304,  309,  310,  313.  396,  443, 

591 
Centennial  Bank,  713 
Central  Fla.,  13,  17-20,  266,  270  n., 

278,  412,  485.  521,  524  n.,  561,  566, 
681  n. 
Central  Railroad,  657,  661 
Centre,  539  n. 
Cessna,  W.  I.,  494  n. 
Chandler,  A.,  negro,  494  n. 
Chandler,  W.  E.,  711,  713,  714,  730 
Chandler,  Z.,  713 
Charity,  235,  378,  381,  382,  386  and 

n.,  389,  397  and  n. 
Charleston,   S.  C,  91.  92,  99,    !';^. 

277,  282,  451 
Charleston  Convention,  i860,  39,  40 
Charlotte  Harbor,  265  n.,  652,  65,^ 
Chase,  S.  P.,  273,  349,  349-353,  357 

371  n.,  375  n.,  411,  471  n.,  523  n.. 

543,  545 
Chase,   William,    55,   69,   79-81,   83, 

100,  loi,  102,  104,  107,  168 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  356 
Chattahoochee,  91,  93,  373,  576,  653 
Chattahoochee  river,  164,  193,  313 
Cheney.  E.  M.,  699 
Chicago,  509,  536 
Children  of  blacks,  341 
Childs,  J.  W.,  493  n.,  499,  641 
Choctawhatchee  bay,  197,  203 
Chipola    river,     15,    311,    312,    569 

and   n. 
Christie,  W.  H.,  434  n. 
Churches,  19,  311,  383  n.,  489,  490, 

524 
Cipher  Telegrams.  714  and  n.,  729 
"  Civil  agent "  of  Bureau,  379,  380 
Civil  authority.  190,  193,  196,  249  n.. 

354,    ^57,  368.  405.  407,  426,  430, 

454,    455,    463,    466.    532    an      n., 

565.  578 


Civil  rights  of  negro,  360,  363,  414 
Civil  Rights  Act,  Federal,  429.  432, 

433.  436 
Clancy,   W.   A.,   714 
Clay   County,   468  n.,   469,   494  n., 

616  n.,  728 
Clayton,  S.,  277 

Cleburne,  Gen.  P.  (C.  S.  A.),  226 
Clerk,  254,  535  n. 
Cloth,   191  n.,  197 
Clubs,    Democratic    campaign,    538, 

621,  692,  695,  696 
Clubs,  Republican  campaign,  700 
Club,  Jacksonville  Republican,  464, 

472  and  n.,  473,  474 
Club,     Young     Men's    Democratic, 

561,  562,  563,  564,  566 
Cobb,  Gen.  Howell  (C.  S.  A.),  225, 

260  n. 
Coe,  C.  H.,  Red  Patriots,  31 
Cocke,   Wm.   A.    449,   535  n.,   550, 

556,  693  n.,  716,  717,  726,  727,  733, 

734 
Coffee,  197 
Cohen,  Notices  of  Florida  and  tke 

Campaigns,  31 
Coker,  J.  P.,  572,  574,  575 
Cole,  Mr.,  232 
Colfax,   S..  538,  541 
Colorado.  U.  S.  ship,  126 
Colquit,    Gen.    A.    H.    (C.    S.    A), 

282,  285,  288 
Columbia  County,  379.  468  n.,  487, 

494  n.,  559.  569,  579,  591,  603,  622, 

627,  642,  695 
Columbia  CS.  C.)   Telegraph,  451 
Columbiads   at   Pickens,    134 
Columbine,  U.  S.  ship,  299,  302,  303 
Columbus,  Ga.,  91,  93,  164,  313 
Commerce,    foreign,    197,    198.   201, 

202 
Commissary,  Confederate,  187.  188, 

191,  192  and  n.,  214,  265,  269,  271, 

313 
Commissioners,  Fla.,    for  receiving 

Fed.  property,  1861,  80-81 
Commissioners.   Fla..    1865.    332   n., 

334 
Commissioners,    county,     188,     190 

and  n. 
Commissioner  of  Bureau,  379,  380 
Commissioners,    Civil    Rights,   433 
Commissioner,    Federal,    of    bank- 
ruptcy, 542 
Commissioner.  Tax,  Federal,  545  n. 


INDEX 


753 


Commissioners.  Railway,  of  N.  C, 

662 
Committee    of     Democratic    Club, 

561,  564 
Committee,  Democratic  State,  637, 

688 
Committee,     Republican     National, 

470,  711 
Committee,   Republican    State,   577, 

689,  690 
Committee,  Unterrified  Tiger,  610 
Committee,   House,  on  Freedman's 

Affairs,  451 
Committee,     Reconstruction,     396, 

430,  431,  440 
Committee,     Joint,     of     Congress 

("Ku  Klux"),  558,  585,  598.  672 
Committee,  Potter,  733 
Conant,  S.,  382  n.,  624,  627,  640 
"  Conchs,"  the,  of  Key  West,  709 
Cone.  R.  W.,  558,  580,  581,  605  n. 
Cone,  W.  R.,  494  n.,  496,  581,  601  n. 
Confederate  Army,  90,  94,  113,  114, 

122,   147,    161,   183.   217,  223,  225, 

281  n.,  283,  286  and  n.,  292,  296 
Confederate    Government,    59,    65, 

91,  III,  138,  143,  146,  148,  158,  161, 

186,   195,  205,  207,  216,  245,  253, 

261,  263,  268,  270,  329,  330,  343, 

346,  '-^2,  519 
Confederate  notes,  180,  182,  183 
Confederate  tax,  187,  188 
Confiscation,  238,  239,  250,  255,  295, 

359,  357  and  n.,  371,  381  and  n., 

382  and  n.,  384.  395,  426,  427  and 

n.,  485,  486,  590 
Conflict,  civil  and  military,  192,  193, 

194,  19?,  196 
Congress,  C.   S.,   192,  200,  22'?,  225 

and  n.,  227 
Congress.    U.    S.,    99,    294,    319   n., 

391,  428,  437,  440,  4dS,  450,  454, 

463,  46s,  470,  477,  478,  483,  484, 

492.  512,  520,  522,   531,  532.  548, 

558,  584,  611.  629,  651,  652,  678 
Connecticut.  245,  287,  288,  290,  594 
Conover,  S.  B.,  494  n.,  644,  661  n., 

665  n.,  689,  690,  091,  711 
Conscription,  95,  144,  212,  213,  223, 

246,  259.  261,  264,  267 
Conservatives.    407,    435,    440,    448, 

456,  459,  460,  469,  470,  479.  482. 

484,  485,  492,  493  and  n.,  497.  498 

and   n.,    515,   520,    ^22,   529,    537. 

538.   ^85.  590.   =;o7.  609.  649.  60 T. 

734 


Conspiracy,  543  n..  550  and  n.,  582. 

584,  616 
Constables.  533,  536,  570,  571  n.,  589 
Constitutions  of  Fla.,   1840,  26-28; 

1865,  364,  365;  1868,  511,  520,  522, 

648 
Constitution  of  U.  S..  i,  375,  436 
Constitutional  Union  party,  38,  39, 

46 
Contracts,    labor,   341,    376  n.,   382, 

.^93-398,  418,  420,  422  n.,  423,  595- 

S97 
Contracts,  mail,  543 
Convention,  Charleston,  i860,  39-41 
Convention.      Constitutional,      361, 

364,  410.  491,  492  and  n.,  493-495. 

500-515.   522,   524 
Convention,  Democratic,  39,  40,  434 

and  n.,  470,  484  and  n.,  487,  537 

and  n.,  619,  688,  691 
Convention,   Know-Nothing,  36 
Convention,  Nashville.  1850,  35,  36 
Convention,  Republican,  295  and  n., 

472,   474,   476,   478,   536,  537,  618 

and  n..  638  and  n.,  689,  690 
Convention.  Tax-Payers,  1871,  599, 

619  n.,  676 
Cooks,    negro,    and    the    elections, 

697 
Cooper  Union,  256 
Corn,  164,  183,  186,  191,  215,  329 
Corporations,  651,  659,  670 
"  Corps  d'Afrique,"  225 
Courts  Federal,  254,  383,  405,  406, 

465.  585.  586,  626,  671 
Courts,  Florida,  188,  190,  193,  194, 

196,  358,  360,  363,  412,  417  and  n., 

423,  426,  433,  463,  464,  534  and  n., 

535    and   n.,    553,    556,    591.    595, 

604-606,  612,  626,  628,  635,  650  n.. 

659,  668,  669,  735 
Covirgill,   C.   A.,   716,  717,  727.  730, 

731  and  n.,  732,  733,  734 
Cotton,  16,  17,  21,  32,  34,  164,  187, 

188,    197,   201-203,   210,   276,   278. 

280,   284,    295,   299,   301    and    n.. 

305,  309,   310,  311,  312.   313,  330 

and  n.,  331,  343.  373,  374  "••  .■^^2. 

397.  419,  435,  484,  594 
Cox,  S.  S.,  617,  645,  680  n. 
Crawford,  Sen.  J.  L.,  669 
Crawfordville.  485,  539  n. 
Crippen,   Paul,  negro.  508 
Crop,  share  of,  394 
Cumberland   Island,   154 
Currency.  War-time.  182 


754 


INDEX 


Curry,  J.  L.  M.,  12  n. 
Customs,  U.  S.,  87,  198,  199 
Culpepper,  J.  W.,  434  n.,  535  n. 


Dade  County,  468  n.,  494  n. 
Dancy,  Mr.,  232 

Daniels,  Episcopal  Church,  19  n. 
Dartmouth  College,  494 
Davidson,  Green  (negro),  458,  461, 

493  n.,  495 
Davidson,  J.  E.,  514  n. 
Davidson.  Col.  R.  H.  M.,  434,  460 
Davis,  Jefferson,  100,  119,  141,  200, 

227,  334  n. 
Dawkins,  T.  B.,  434  n. 
Day,    S.   t.,   355  n.,  618,  627,  628, 

630,  633-636,  665 
Deadman's  bay,    197 
Debts,  245,  501,  679  and  n.,  6go,  684 
De  Biedma,   account  of  De  Soto's 

expedition,  10 
Default  on  Ijonds,  453 
Delta,    New    Orleans,    newspaper, 

117 
Democratic  party,  27,  32,  36,  38-39, 

S19-521.    527-529.    538.    539,    550. 

550,  556,  587,  616,  664,  717,  727 
Dennett,  N.  C,  472  n.,  494  n.,  507 

and  n. 
Dennis,  Mr.  (U.  S.  Coast  Survey), 

159 
Dennis,  L.  G..  477  and  n.,  559,  604 

n..  624,  630  n.,  640,  641,  666,  718, 

730  n.,  731,  735 
Department     of    Justice,    Federal, 

586 
Depot  Keys,  265  n. 
Deserters,  244,  259  and  n.,  260  and 

n..  261,  264,  267,  284 
De  Soto,  Hernando,  8.  10  n. 
"  De  Soto  Irrenressibles,"  115 
Destitution.    1862-5,    189,    191,    192, 

201  n.,  262  and  n.,  265.  279,  283. 

342.  378,  419 
Dewhurst,  St    Augustine,  10 
Dickinson,  J.  Q.,  560,  574,   ^7';  and 

n.  578,  582,  ■:83,\';84 
Dickkon, ,  Caot.   J.   J.    (C.   S.    A.), 

2^    23^,  284' and  fi.,  30;».  30f3  "., 

.305  if.  306,  307,  3^:3 
Direct  Tix  Act,  Confed.,  1861,  186 
Discovery  of  Florida,  1513.  4 
Disease    among    Southern    troops, 

323 


Disfranchisement,     436,     469,     483, 

488,  499,   501,  509,  511,  513,  522, 

525,  526,  561 
Disloyal,  260,  409,  443,  444 
"District"  of  Bureau.  379,  380 
District   of  Florida,  454 
District,  State  senatorial,  469 
Di.strict,  Third  Military,  497 
Disunion,  Democrats  plan,  41 
Dockray,  F.  A.,  535  n. 
Doolittle,   J.    R.,   U.    S.    Sen.,   429, 

532,  537 
Douglas,  J.,  abolitionist,  43 
Douglas,  Judge   Sam.,  460,  497  n., 

562,  605-606,  628  n. 
Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  36,  460 
Doyle,    Capt.    J.    A.    (U.    S.    A.). 

314  n. 
Drtw,  G.  B.,  691,  692,  702,  711,  733. 

Driggers,  Judge,  724,  725,  726 

Dunham,   Capt.    (C.    S.   A.),  278 

Dunham,  J.  L.,  434  n. 

Dunning,  W.  A.,  688 

Dupont,  C.  H.,  232,  412 

Du  Pont.  Commodore  (U.  S.  N.), 
153,  15s 

Durden,  Jesse,  murdered  by  regu- 
lators, i860,  43 

Duryea,  Col.,  71-72 

Duval  County,  468  n.,  492  n.,  494  n.. 
514  n.,  727,'  733 

Dyke,  C.  E.,  39  n..  40,  67,  449  n., 
512  n.,  537  n.,  539  n.,  625  and  n., 
626 

E 

East  Florida,  10,  16,  20,  142,  147- 
149,  160,  161,  193,  194,  222,  228, 
230,  231,  236,  250,  253,  254,  257. 
270  n..  272,  277,  291,  293,  295,  297, 
208,  313.  354.  355  and  n.,  360, 
434  n.,  697 

East  Florida  Banner,  450 

Eau  Claire,  Wis.,  523  n. 

Education,  negro,  235,  236  and  n.. 
2:^7. 380,  382,  385-.390,  421,  683, 
684 

Elections.  16,  17.  27,  32,  36,  46.  56; 
1865,  359  and  n.,  360.  361  and  n., 
365.  37T  n. ;  1867,  455  and  n.,  456, 
463;  1868,  491,  492  and  n.,  403. 
497,  498  n.,  490.  524.  528,  540,  6n 
and  n.;  1870.  621-623,  629:  1872. 
6.39,  640:  1874,  641,  642,  645; 
1876.  705-710 


INDEX 


755 


Electoral  T.aws,  667  n.,  710 
Electors,  presidential.  540,  547,  552 

n.,  640  n.,  728,  736 
"  Ella    and    Annie,"    blockade- run- 
ner, 202,  203 
Ellisville,  603 
Elvas,  Gentleman  of,  8 
Emancipation    of    Sla%'es,    236-237, 

240-242.    264.    339,    340,    344,    402, 

457.  673,  674 
Embezzlement.   547,   549,    551,   614- 

617,  631,  658  and  n.,  659 
"  Emma,"    blockade-runner,   200 
Employees,  382 
Empire  Mills.  306 
Enfield  rifles,  131,   132 
Enforcement    Act,    Federal,    1871, 

584,  585,  626,  641 
Enfranchisement,  negro,  376,  477 
England.  662 
Enterprise,  360  n. 
Episcopal  Church,  19.  337 
Eppes,  T.  J.,  40 
Erben,  Hy.,  Lt.   (U.  S.  N.),  75  n., 

76-77,  77  n..  79 
Erwin,  A.,  negro,  494  n. 
Escambia  river,  166.  168,  312 
Escambia  County,  43,  44,  62,  373  n., 

427,   431.   468  n.,  493  n.,   381   n., 

521  n.,  591,  708 
Eucheanna,  233,  311 
Eufaula,  Ala.,  164,  653 
Europe,  197 

Ewing,  C.  S.,  Steamer,  127 
Ewing,  E.  W.  R.,  704  n. 
Ex-Confederates,     357,     366.     367. 

369,  400,  409,  424,  434.   456,  521, 

535,  5.37 
Exemptions,  213,  214 
Ex-?laveholders,  354,  .^55,  358,  365, 

366.  372.  412.  460,  556 
Ex- Whigs.  .355.  535.  ^""^ 


Factories  in  Florida,  T.  33  and  n., 
191  n..  211 

Fairbanks,  G.  R.,  8  n.,  9  n.,  10  n., 
II  n. 

Fairbanks.  Lt.  fC.  S.  A.),  193,  I94 

Farmers.  1861;,  332 

Farragut.  Adm.  (U.  S.  A.), 

Farrand,  Comd.  (U.  S.  N.),  seces- 
sionist, 77 

Federal  Army.  140,  286,  291  and  n., 
292,  297  n. 


Federal    garrisons,    1S65,   337.    338 

and  n. 
Fees,  Bureau  agents,  380 
Fenton,  R.  E.,  536 
Fernandina,  33,  38,  40,  145,  151  and 

n.,  153,  154,  156,  160,  162,  169,  198, 

202,  235,  254,  277,  280  n.,  284,  293. 

351,  360  n.,  371  n.,  375  n.,  384  n.. 

385,  394  n.,  427,  471,  486  n. 
Fifteen-Mile  House,  309 
Fifteenth    Amendment    to    U.     S. 

Const.,  615 
f'ifth  U.  S.  Artillery,  702 
Fifth    Avenue    Hotel,    New    York 

City,  256,  714 
Finance,  public,  544,  545,  597,  654, 

655,  672-674 
Finegan.  J.,  69,   170.  229,  231,  277, 

281.  282.  288  and  n.,  366,  384 
Finegan,  Camp,  303 
Finlayson,  Dr.,  568,  584 
Finley,  J.  j.,  44,  642,  691,  734  n. 
Fire-arms,  right  to  carry,  416,  419, 

422,  432 
First  National  Bank  of  N.  Y.,  656 
Fleishman.  S..  576,  604 
Fleming,  S.  T.,  719 
Fleming,  W.  L.,  75  n.,  392  n. 
Flint,  Col.  F.   F.   (U.  S.  A.),  398, 

443.  508.  531,  597  n. 
Florida,  discovery  and  naming,  3-4 
Florida    Canal    and    Improvement 

Co.,  670  n. 
Florida  R.  R..  670  n. 
Florida   Union,  newspaper,   501 
Floridian,    Tallahassee,  newspaper. 

285,   445-450,   474,   476,   488,  499. 

538,  711 
Floyd,  Brig.-Gen.,  J.  B.  (C.  S.  A.), 

144 
"Flush  Times,"  25-26,  ZZ-Z'^^ 
Food  supply,  183,  184.  222,  265,  268- 

270,  276 
Food  of  poor  whites  in  Florida,  21 
Fort   Barrancas.   77,   103,   115,   135, 

i6^.  257.  307,  312,  A^6 
Fort  Clark.  N.  C.  150 
Fort  Clinch.  145,  154,  170 
Fort  Donelson,  139.  147 
Fort  Hatteras.  N.  C,  150 
Fort  Henry.  Tenn..  139 
Fort  Hodgson.  309 
Fort  Jefferson.  105,  114 
Fort  Marion,  72.  yz,  160 
Fort  McRee.  78  n.,  79,  83  and  n.. 

103,  118,  134,  136 


756 


INDEX 


Fort  Meyers,  234,  309,  314 

Fort    Pickens,    74,    77-80,    100-105, 

108,    114,    118-121,    125,    128-136, 

138,  307 
Fort  Pulaski,  Ga.,  prison,  335 
Fort  Sumpter,  S.  C.,  105,  106,  108 
Fort  Taylor,  71,  72,  I05 
Fort  Ward,  327 
Fortifications,      Confederate,      297 

and  n.,  297,  301 
Fortress  Monroe,  Va.,  150 
Fortune,  E.,  negro,  493  n..  495,  558, 

559  and  n. 
Forward,  H.  H.,  616  n. 
Foster,  E.  K.,  535  n. 
Foster,  Gen.  J.  G.     (U.  S.  A.),  327 

n.,   357,   379.   380,   386,   430,   431, 

443,  605 
Fourteenth    Amendment   to   U.    S. 

Const.,  436-438,  531,  533 
France,   731 

Francis,  T.,  negro,  579 
Franchise,  R.  R.,  653 
Franklin    County,    62,   465,    468   n., 

499 
Franklin,  H.,  negro,  ';7o 
Eraser,  P.,  251,  274,  295  n.,  354,  355 

and  n.,  356,  435  n. 
Fraud,  497,  498  n.,  526  and  n.,  527 

and   n.,   623,   624,   631,   640,   645, 

656   n.,   662,   698,   699,    708,    711, 

712,  716,  719,  720,  723,  724  n. 
Free   Negroes    (before   1865),  413, 

415 
Free   speech,    suppression    of,   336, 

32,7 
Freedmen,     marital     and    parental 

relations,  341,  342,  382,  383  n. 
Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  235 
Freedmen's  Bureau,  see  Bureau. 
Freedmen's    iRelief    Assn.,    386    n., 

423 
"  Freedom,"  341 
French,  Maj.  (U.  S.  A.),  248 
Friend,  J.,  521 
Friendship    Church    precinct,    707, 

721,  722,  727 
Fugitive    Slave   Law,    Federal,    36, 

2>7,  39 
Fuller,  Purchase  of  Florida,  9  n. 
Funding  Act,  1873,  680 


Gadsden    County,    17,    55,   62,    189, 
465,  468  n.,  469,  493  n.,  499,  5140., 


521  n.,  540,  609,  621,  622,  666,  669, 

677,  681  n. 
Gainesville,  42,  47,  91,  186,  304,  305, 

385,  388  n.,  396,  460,  461  n.,  486  n., 

539  n-,  570,  618,  702 
Galbraith,  J.  B.,  366  n. 
Galloway,  Capt.  (U.  S.  A.).  434 
Gamage,  Mr.,  371  n. 
Gamble,    Col.    R.    H.,   399,   434   n., 

535,  549,  617,  624-627,  654-656 
Garcillasso    de   la   Vega,   Histoire, 

etc.,  10 
Garrisons,  Federal,  337,  338  and  n., 

339,  370,  464 
Gazette,  I'ensacola,  newspaper,  108 
Georgia,    11,   15,  20,  269,  450,   451, 

453,  454,  456  n.,  701,  709 
Georgia  troops,  107,  114,  127,  281  n.. 

285,  287,  290,  296,  300 
Germans,  245 
Gerrymandering,      468,     469,     497, 

498  n. 
Gettis,  J.,  434  n. 
Gibbs,  J.  C,  negro,  494  n.,  495,  551, 

558  and  n.,  559  n.,  582,  584,  625, 

634,  683 
Giddings,    J.    R.,    The    Exiles    of 

Florida,  31 
Gilbert,  A.,  644,  666 
Gilmore,   Gen:    Q.   A.    (U.    S.   A.), 
274,    27s,    276,    281-285,    292,    334. 

340 
Gleason,   W.    M.,   452,   477   and   n., 

323  and  n.,  546,  549  and  n.,  550- 

555,  612  and  n.,  624,  667,  675,  690 
Godwin,  L.,  negro,  707 
Gonzalez  House,  310 
Gold,  183 
Gordon,  Fla.,  570 

Gordon,  Gen.  (C.  S.  A.),263,  264 n. 
Gordon,  Brig.-Gen.  G.   (U.   S.  A), 

302  n.,  303  n. 
Gosport  navy-yard,   114 
Goss,  J.  H.,  494  n.,  509,  535  n. 
Government,  local,  533,  534,  535 
Government,  U.  S.,  396 
Governor    of    Fla.,    188,    189,    333 

and  n. 
Governorship,     Provisional,     1865, 

352,  356 
Graft,  403,  404,  542,  543  and  n.,  546, 

654.  666,  667,  67^,  681 
Granbury,  M.,  negro,  575 
Grant,  Gen.  U.  S.,  139,  374  n.,  497, 

498  n.,  513,  514.  526,  536-541,  J'^Z- 

715 


INDEX 


757 


Grayson,    Brig.-Gen.     (C.    S.    A.), 

141,  142 
Greeley,  H.,  323  n.,  640 
Greely,  J.  C,  472  n. 
Green,  Bill,  negro,  725,  726 
Green,  J.,  negro,  579 
Green,  J.  D.,  541  n.,  616  n. 
Grinnell,  W.  H.,  355 
Grossman,  Lt.  (U.  S.  A.),  443 
Guerillas,  257,  258  and  n.,  267,  284, 

326.  338 
Gwatney,  Lt.  (U.  S.  N.),  109 

H 

Habeas  Corpus,  writ  of,  248  and  n., 

368,  414,  432 
Hakluyt,  English  Voyages,  4  n 
Hall,  J.  W.,  521  n. 
Halleck,  Gen.  (U.  S.  A.),  274 
Hamilton,   C.  M.,  477  and  n.,  523, 

534,    570,    583,   597,    611    and   n., 

618,  619 

Hamilton   County,    468   n.,   494   n., 

560  n.,  580-582,  718,  722,  727,  728, 

733  _ 
Hamlin,  Vice-Pres.,  256  n. 
Hampton   Roads,  Va.,   150 
Hancock,  W.  S.,  537 
Harmon,  H.  S.,  640 
Harriet  Lane,  U.  S.  ship,  168 
Harriet  Weed,  U.  S.  ship,  30 
Harris,  Col.  A.  L.  (U.  S.  A.),  305 
Harris,  J.  G.,  353  and  n. 
Harrison.  Col.  Geo.  P.,  Jr.,  (C.  S. 

A.),  288 
Hart,  Comd.  (U.  S.  N.),  206 
Hart,  O.  B.,  434  n.,  435  n.,  467,  472 

and  n.,  473,  474-476,  489,  492  n., 

507  n    S14  n.,  534  n.,  535  n.,  638- 

040,  664 
Hatch,  Col.  (U.  S.  A.),  260  n. 
Hatch,  Brig.-Gen.  J.  P.  (U.  S.  A.), 

297,  304  n.,  305  n. 
Hatteras,  U.  S.  ship,  152 
Hattie.  steamboat,  299 
Havemeyer,  H.,  729  and  n. 
Hawks,  Mrs.,  236 
Hawkins,  D.  C,  535  n.,  654  n. 
Hawkins,  G.  S.,  434  n 
Hawley,    Brig.-Gen.    J.    R.    (U.    S. 

A.),  286  n.,  289  n.,  290  and  n. 
Haworth,  Dr.  |P.  L.,  726 
Hay,  J.,  102,  254,  275.  276,  294 
Hayes,  R.  B.,  714,  728.  730 


Helper,    H.    R.,    Impending    Crisis, 

37-38 
Hendricks,  T.  A.,  537   728 
Henry,  Col.  G.  V.  (U.  S.  A.),  278, 

280,  300 
Herald,  N.  Y .,  361,  368 
Hernando    County,   468  n.,   494  n., 

580,  581 
Herodotus,  History,  18 
Hewling,  A.  H.,  537  n. 
Hill,  Benj.,  of  Ga.,  484  n.,  693 
Hill,  R,  negro,  493  n. 
Hillsborough  County,  468  n.,  494  n. 
Hilton  Head,  S.  C,  169,  276,  282, 

28s,  356,  733 
Higginson,  T.  W.,  5,  172,  174,  228, 

230,  231,  234,  253 
Hobbs,   L.    M..   387,   389,  423,   440, 

441 
Hogs,  260,  280 
Hogue,  Mr.,  459 
Holden,    Gov.    W.    W.,    of    N.    C, 

.303,  614 
Holland,  662 

Hollingsworth,  Dr.  W..  43 
Holmes  County,  62,  468  n.,  493  n. 
Holmes,  T.  O.,  434  n. 
Holt,  J..  Sect,  of  War  and  Judge 

Advocate  General,  69,  335 
Homer,  Iliad,   18 
Homeseekers,  450 
Homestead  Law,  Federal,  451 
Homesteaders,  negro,  382,  489  n. 
Hopkins,  A.,  434  n. 
Hopkins,  Edward,  41 
Hopkins  &  Co.,  of  N.  Y.,  e-^d  662, 

663 
Horses.  278,  307,  312,  313,  329 
Hospitals,    116,    136,    137,   167,    185, 

382,  384  and  n. 
Hot  Shot,  138 
Hot  Springs,  Ark.,  731 
Houghton,  U.  S.  ship,  303 
Hounds.  258 
House,  Fla..  437.  439,  615,  629.  631, 

643,  67s  n. 
House,  U.  S.,  429,  439,  440,  585,  619 
■Howard,  Gen.   O.   O.,   376  and  n., 

384.  392.  397  and  n.,  402 
Howse.  E.  D.,  494  n. 
Hull,  N.  A.,  691 
Humphreys.  Gen.  A.  A.  (U.  S.  A.), 

327  n. 
Hunter,  Gen.   D.   (U.   S.  A.),  23S, 

239.  240 
Husbands,  black,  341 


758 


INDEX 


Illinois,  470,  481  n.,  502 
Illiterates,  535 

immigration,  13,  15,  450,  452 
Immigrant  Aid  Societies,  451 
Impeachment,  Reed's,  545,  546,  548, 

S50,  612,  613,  616,  617,  631,  632, 

63s,  ^2^ 
Impressment,  186,  187,  190-193,  196, 

216 
Inauguration    of    Reed,    528,    529, 

543  n. 
Inauguration  of  Drew,  735 
Incendiarism,  418;    see   Burnings. 
"  Independent  Blues,"  457 
Indian  river,  198,  653 
Indiana,  416 
Indiana  troops,  327 
Industry,  211;  see  Factories. 
Infantry,  Confederate,  94,  281,  286, 

322,  323  and  n. 
Infantry,   Federal,  6,   15,   169,   173, 

276,  287,  289 
Injunction,  626 

Inland    Navigation    and    Improve- 
ment Co.,  667  n. 
Inquest,  575 
Insurance   Companies,   355   and  n., 

683 
Insurrection,    slave,   220,    225,   226, 

229,  235,  418 
Intemperance    in     Confed.     Army, 

116,  120,  141  and  n. 
Inter-marriage,  racial,  490 
Internal    Improvement,    33    n.,    66, 

652,  661,  671 
Intrusion  of  races,  l£w,  419,  421 
Invasion,    Federal,    150,    173,    220, 

250,  260,  295,  314.  316 
Iowa,  31,  478,  583 
Irregulars,  590 

Irregularity,  electoral,  721.  722,  723 
Iron,  R.  R.,  193 
Irving,    T.,    Conquest    of   Florida, 

10  n. 
Irving,  W.,  Columbus.  18 


Jackson,  Andrew,   11,  12,  22 

Jackson,  W.  E.,  657 

Jackson  County,  17,  44.  45,  62,  189, 
311,  3.3Q-  379,  465,  468  n.,  488.  493 
n.,  498,  514  n..  S2I,  539,  558,  559 
n..  56s.  566  and  n.,  570.  573-578, 


581  n.,  582,  589,  596,  603,  604,  621, 
623,  630,  666,  677,  681  n.,  706-710, 
718-722,  728 

Jackson,  Gen.  J.  K.  (C.  S.  A.),  270 

Jacksonville,  15,  92,  157,  162,  169- 
174,  202,  228,  229,  232,  235,  236, 
250-252,  255,  265  n.,  276  284,  293, 
298-307,  354,  366  n.,  373  n.,  382  n., 
384  and  n.,  385,  391,  392,  396,  426, 
427  and  n.,  434  n.,  443,  455,  ^bo, 
461  n.,  464,  471  n.,  472,  476,  534  n., 
540  n.,  546  n.,  585,  591,  626,  634, 
637,  640,  653,  669,  699 

Jacksonville  and  St.  Augustine  R. 
R.,  667 

Jacksonville,  Pensacola  and  Mobile 
R.  R.,  657-664 

Jacksonville  Union,  newspaper,  446 

Jacobs,  T.,  negro,  509 

Jasper,  434  n. 

Jasper  Precinct  No.  2,  722 

Jay  Cooke  and  Co.,  655 

Jefferson  County,  17,  260  n.,  465, 
468  n.,  487,  488,  493  n.,  514  n., 
521  n.,  621,  622,  666,  677,  681  n., 
695,  706,  715  n.,  727 

Jefferson,  T.,  Notes  on  Va.,  18 

Jenkins,  H.,  Jr.,  477  and  n.,  494  n., 
496,  S03,  510,  514.  547  and  n.,  548 
and  n. 

Jews,  492  n.,  576 

Jim  Crow  Law,  419 

Johns  Island,  282 

Johnson,  E.  G.,  559,  560,  734 

Johnson,  M.,  negro,  494  n. 

Johnson,  Pres.,  223,  335,  350-3S6, 
360,  2^2^  368,  428,  429,  438,  439, 
503,  504,  S3I,  548,  552,  553,  565 

"Johnson  party,"  512 

Johnson,  Gen.  A.  S.  (C.  S.  A.), 
140 

Johnston,  Gen.  J.  E.  (C.  S.  A.), 
319,  325,  327 

Jones,  Mrs..  Our  Women  in  War- 
times, 325  n. 

Jones,  Chas.  M.,  644.  645 

Jones,  Maj.-Gen.  S.  (C.  S.  A.), 
302  n..  303  n.,  304  n.,  305  n.,  325 
n.,  326 

Jones,  Col.  T.  (C.  S.  A.),  165,  166, 
167 

Judah,  C.  S.  ship,  126,  127 

Judges,  379,  474  n..  535  n.;  see 
Courts. 

Jupiter  inlet,  198 

Juries,  419,  602  n.,  603,  604,  681  n. 


INDEX 


759 


Justices  of  the  peace,  i88,  360,  417, 
535 

K 

'■  Kasions,"  12,  115,  245 

Kansas,  36,  255 

Kasson,  J.  A.,  of  Iowa,  715,  731 

Katzenberg,  Mr.,  554  n. 

Kelly,  W.  W.,  Lt.-Gov.,  366 

Kent  salt  works,  207 

Kentucky,  3$ 

Kentucky,    Loyal    (U.    S.)    troops, 

327 
Key    of   the   Gulf,   newspaper,    70, 

247 
Key  West,  73  and  n.,   144  n.,  151, 

152,   237,   240,   247-249,   314,   351, 

353,  360  n.,  434  n.,  454,  471   n., 

586,  700,  709,  722 
Key  West  Dispatch,  newspaper.  709 
Killed,  290  and  n.,  292;  see  Mur- 
ders. 
King,     B.,     Commissioners     from 

Ga.,  i860,  68 
Knight,  A.  A.,  526  and  n.,  535  n., 

545  n.,  640  n. 
Know  Nothing  party,  36 
Krimminger,  J.  N.,  494  n.,  496,  560, 

601  n.,  666 
Kossuth,    Louis,    nephews    of,    307 

and  n.,  308 
Kropotkin,     Prince,     Conquest     of 

Bread,  216 
Ku  Klux,  553,  558-564,  579 


Labor,  free,  255,  340,  341,  393-396, 

417,  420,  452,  454 
Lafayette  County,  259,  260  n.,  261, 

264  n.,  468  n.,  494  n.,  498,  560  n., 

580-582,  627  n.,  666 
La  Fontaine,  669 
Lake  City,  271,  279,  281,  285,  305, 

329,  339  n.,  369,  38s  and  n.,  396, 

398,  443,  459  n.,  460,  461  and  n., 

489,  521  and  n.,  567,  579,  603,  622, 

640,  658,  676,  702 
Lake  George,  299 
Lake  Monroe,  301 
Lake  Ocala,  207 
Lakes  of  Florida,  5 
Land,   14,   15,  26,    177  and  n.,   178, 

377,  451.  593,  651  and  n.,  653,  670, 

671.  696,  697 
Landlords,  white,  696,  697 
Land-seekers,  382,  592,  594 
Lanier,  Sidney,  5,  7 


Lansing,  W.  E.,  Congressman,  585 
Larceny,  417  n.,  418 
Lawlessness,  41-44,  298,  399  and  n., 
330,  339,  344,  370,  371  n.,  374  n., 
395,   426-431,   444.   452,   456,   458, 
465,  486  and  n.,  516,  540  n.,  541, 
543  and  n.,  544,  551,  553,  557-586, 
590,  591,  608,  621,  622,  682,  685, 
694,  695,  701,  707 
Lead,  surrendered,  329 
Le  Cain,  Mr.,  640 
Lee,  J.  A.,  690 
Lee,  Gen.  R.  E.,  140,  147,  166,  319, 

•325       • 
Legislature,    Fla.,    188,    190,    199  n., 
220,  223,  224,  333,  365.  395,  400, 
405,  408, 409, 412,  415, 422  n.,  428  n., 
429,  435.  463,  529,   533,  537,  540, 
545,  547,  550  and  n.,  565,  613,  615, 
629,  631,  637,  641,  643,  649,  652  n., 
659,  664  665  and  n.,  666,  734 
I  Leon  County,  17,  62,  189,  427,  452, 
j      465,  468  n.,  487,  488,  493  n.,  514  n., 
I      521  and  n.,  559  n.,  561,  562,  599, 
616,  665,  666,  677,  681,  682,  700, 
706,  708,  727,  731 
Levy  County,  427,  431,  468  n.,  591 
I  Levyville,  313 

i  Liberal  Republican  movement,  637, 
i      638,  639 

I  Liberty  County,  465,  468  n.,  493  n. 
j  Lieutenant  Governor,  554,  555 
!  Lincoln,    Abraham,    ^s,   66   n.,    104, 
'      106,   108,   III,   139,  235,  239,  240, 
242,  248,  250,  254,  256,  264,  272- 
276,  281,  293,  294,  317,  324,  325. 
338,  339,  350 
Lincoln  Brotherhood,  375.  376,  401, 

459,  473,  476  n.,  562,  606 
Linly,  W.  A.,  434  n. 
Little,  J.,  of  Ohio,  715 
Littlefield,   M.   S.,  614  and  n.,  616, 

657-663 
Live.  H.  G.,  332  n. 
Livermore,    T.    L.,    Numbers    and 

Losses,  320 
Lobbyists,  506,  613,  614 
Logging,  164 
Lomax,   Col.  T.,   of   Alabama,  80- 

81,  85,  loi  n. 
London,  662 
London.  Jack,  225 
Long,  Mrs.  E.  C.  13,  21,  22,  326 
Long,  H.,  negio.  707 
Long,  T.  T.,  366  n.,  '^35  n.,  «;98-6oo, 
678 


760 


INDEX 


Loss  of  life  in  the  Civil  War,  320 
Loss  of  property  in  the  Civil  War, 

319,  320,  324 
Lott,  Luke,  556 
Ix)uisiana  troops  in   Fla.,   107,   114, 

127,   161 
Louisiana,  440,  451,  711 
Love,  Col.  C.  B.,  Conservative.  460 
Love,  J.  B.,  434  n. 
Low,  A.  A.,  355 
Lowery,  W.,  4,  10  n. 
Loyalists  in  American  Revolution,  9 
Loyalists,  156,  350,  435,  475  n.,  476, 

496 
Loyalty  in  the  U.  S.,  354,  369,  370, 

432,  434 
Lumber,  165,  166,  276,  280  and  n., 

295.  303.  Z'^2,,  Z72  and  n.,  393 
Lumbermen,  244 

M 

Macdonald,  W.,  Select  Documents, 

8  n. 
Machiavelli,  600.  732 
Macon,  Ga.,  326,  333 
Madison,  Fla.,  539  n.,  567,  702 
Madison,  Wis.,  528 
Madison    County,    17,    260   n.,   427, 

431,  465.   468  n.,  486  n.,  493  n., 

514,  527  n.,  560  n.,  569,  579.  581, 

591,594,  677,  690 
Magbee,  J.  T.,  535  n.,  617 
Magelle,  494  n. 

Magnolia,  towrn  of,  304,  305.  384  n 
Mahoney,  Bureau  agent,  398,  560 
Maine,  245,  477,  614,  657 
Maine  troops,  311 
Mallory,  S.  R.,  i,  35.  36,  51,  52,  53, 

60,  61,  69,  79,  80,  83,  86,  87  and  n., 

loi,   102,    119,   141.   142,   169.   194, 

261,  334-336.  448,  456 
Maloney,  W.  C,  434  n. 
Manatee    County,    360    n.,    427    n., 

468  n.,  494  n.,  718,  723,  7Z3 
Mandamus.  628.  72Z 
Mansell.  W.,  434  n. 
Maple  Leaf.  U.   S.   ship,   275.  299, 

300 
Marble.  M.,  729  n. 
Marlanna.    Fla.,    16,    91,    186,    233, 

261,    311,    312,    359,    453,    481    n., 

539  n.,  566-574,  578.  583,  584,  603, 

640,  702 
Marion  County.  54,  5S,  379,  468  n., 

514  n..  640,  677 


I  Marriages,  regulation  of,  383,  416, 
j      420  and  n.,  422,  425  and  n. 
I  Marshals,    Federal,    254.    331,    341, 
!      360,  374,  387,  474  n.,  586,  603,  626, 
I      640-642,  707,  708,  714 
:  Marshall,  Capt.  (U.  S.  A.),  284 
!  >.Iarshal  law,  165,  431,  432,  577 
I  Martin,  M.,  576,  609,  712 
Martin.  Wm.,  negro,  459  n. 
Marvin,  Wm.,  243,  247,  248  and  n., 

335,    352-359,    362,    367,    369,    371 

and   n.,    276,    379,    409,    410,    412, 

429,  434  n.,  440,  441,  449  and  n., 

464  n.,  532 
Maryland,  470,  496,  502 
Massachusetts,  245,  300,  304,  380 
Massachusetts  troops,  283,  477,  549 

n.,  594 
Matthews,  Stanley,  714 
Maxwell,  A.  E.,  100  n. 
Maxwell,  J.  S.,  434  n. 
Maynard.  H.,  Congressman,  585 
Mays,  Mr.  258,  323 
McCaskill,  Sen.  A.  L.,  669 
McClellan,  Gen.  G.  B.   ''U.  S.  A.), 

140,  151  and  n. 
McClellan,  Col.  J.,  572,  573 
McClellan,   Miss   Maggie,  572,  573. 

^7S  and  n. 
McCormick.    Lt.-Col.    (U.    S.    A.), 

report,  304  n.,  305  n. 
McCormick,  Geo.,  711 
McCook,   Gen.   E.   M.    (U.   S.   A.). 

326-330.  333,  336,  2,2,7,  428  n.,  457 
McDaniel,  Mr.,  566 
McFarland.  B.,  "  A  Forgotten  Ex- 
pedition," 116  and  n.,  122 
McGarr.  U.  S.  A.,  113 
McGirts  creek,   296,  298,  303,   304, 

333  n.,  334 
McGriff,  Mr.,  566 
McGuffin's  Hotel,  552 
McKibben,  J.  L..  434  n. 
Mcintosh,    McQ.,    44,    57,    58,    247, 

248,  460 
McLeod,    Ferdinand,    z^,    434   n., 

640  n. 
McLin,  S.  B.,  355  n.,  716,  717,  727. 

734 
Meacham,    R.,   negro,   493   n..   495. 

500,   541   n.,   548  n.,  554  n..   596. 

609,  666.  695 
Meade.   Gen.  Geo.  G.    (U.   S.   A.). 

497,  498  and  n..  509,  513,  5i5,  S20- 

526,  529,  532 
Meadeville,  Pa.,  523  n. 


INDEX 


761 


Meal,  403 

Meat,  266 

Meek,  Atty.-Gen.  A.  R.,  625,  627 

Meetings,  political,  after  the  War, 

485,  489,  491  n.,  514,  521  n.,  522  n., 

538  n.,  539,  576 
Meigs,  Capt.  M.  C.  (U.  S.  A.),  54, 

56.  70 
Mellonville,  453 
Merchants,    165,    190,   197,  244,  280, 

2Z2,  374,  403 
Merriweather,  Maj.  M.  (C.  S.  A.). 

194 
Methodist  Church,  19,  337 
Metropolitan  Club,  N.  Y.,  537  n. 
Middle  Fla.,  142,  148,  149,  222,  360, 

434  n. 
"  Military  Bill,"  445  446 
Military  rule,  191-193,  249,  340,  341, 

357,   368.    381,   404-406,   422.   424, 

425,     431-433,     454-456,     463-467, 

472,  473,  513-515,  522  n.,  530-533. 

539,  541,  586.  640,  702 
Militia.   80,   88-90,  95    and   n.,    114, 

143,  147,  544,  546,  577,  607 
Mill,  John  Stuart,  685,  686 
Miller,  Maj.  (C.  S.  A.),  269 
Miller,  T.,  707 
Miller,     Brig.-Gen.     Wm.     (C.     S. 

A.),  i6s,  314 
Mills,  A.,  negro,  493  n. 
Milton,  Fla..  166,  186,  310,  312,  339 
Milton,  John,  39  n.,  40,  41,  46,  67. 

68,    142,    143  n.,   146  and  n.,   148, 

161,    183   n.,    184,    191,      192.    195, 

196   and   n.,   199  and   n.,  201   n., 

210,  212,  213,  222.  223,  229,  232, 

260.  264 
Milwaukee,  Wis.,  528 
Minorcans.  Fla.,  10  and  n. 
"  Minute  Men,"  43,  45.  53,  89 
Mississippi.  449,  451,  694 
Mississippi    troops.    77.    79,   80,   83, 

85,   loi.   107,   114,   119,   127,  167 
Mississippi,  property  destroyed  in, 

.324  and  n. 
Missouri,  511 
Mobs,  329  and  n..  330,  456.  489  n., 

510 
Mobile.  Ala.,  91 
Mobley.   C.  R.,  434  n.,  494  n.,  525 

n.,  .535  n..  548  n.,  554  n.,  624 
Molasses.  187,  188,  215,  270  n..  278 
Monroe  County,  468  n.,  494  n.,  627 

n..  709,  718,  722.  723.  727,  728,  733 
Montesquieu,  677,  68r 


Montgomery,  Ala.,  106,  110-112 
Montgomery.    Col.   J.    (U.    S.    A.). 

230 
Montgomery,  D.,  690 
Montgomery,  Mr.,  640  n. 
Monticello,    Fla.,    16,    91,    186,    211. 

213,  449.  460,  485,   507.  508,  509, 

Sii,  512  and  n.,  513,  515,  521,  607. 

622,  695,  696,  702,  706 
Moody,  H.  M.,  537  n. 
Moody,  P.,  295  n.,  355  n. 
Moore,  A.  B.,  Gov.  of  Ala.,  70 
Moore,  H.  H.,  chaplain  (U.  S.  A.). 

386 
Moore,  T..  Poems,  18 
Morange,  Mr.,  554  n. 
Morgan,  Col.  (U.  S.  A.),  240,  241 
Morris  Island,  282 
Mortgages,  671 
Morton,  J.,  62 
Mosquito  Inlet,  198 
Mot,  Mr.,  371  n. 
Mulattoes,  414  and  n.,  494,  495 
Mules,  capture  of.  301  and  n. 
Murat,  Achille,  14,  17 
Murders,  257,  418,  560.  564-583,  603, 

604.  607.  734 

N 

Napoleon.  Memoirs  of,  18 
Nashville.   Convention,  35,  36 
Nassau  County,  379,  468  n.,  494  n., 

499,  521,  666 
National   Loan    and   Trust   Co.,  of 

N.  Y.,  656' 
Natural  Bridge,  233,  235,  315 
Navy-Yard,     Pensacola.     ri8,     120. 

126,   127,   138 
Neaffle,  C.  iS.  steamer,  127 
Neemah.  Wis.,  528 
Negro,  Civil  Rights  of,  360,  363 
Negro    enfranchisement,    351,    352. 

410,  411,  429.  438.  442,  448,  449  n.. 

455,  456,  458.  469  and  n..  470.  and 

n.,  477.  488  and  n..  513.  615 
Negro  office-holders,  534-536.  588 
Negro    troops.    224,    235.    289.    300, 

303.  ,304.  306,   308,  310.  312.  315. 

338  and  n..  .339,  370,  371  n.,  374 

and  n. 
New  Era,  ne\yspaper,  240.  241 
New  Hampshire,  troops  from.  288, 

289 
New  Hampshire.  477,  499,  502,  692 
New  Jersey.  251,  532 


^(^2 


INDEX 


Newmansville,  570 

New  Mexico,  731 

Mew  Orleans,  La.,  91,  652,  714 

iSewton,   Brig.-Gen.   I.    (U.  S.  A.), 

315  and  n. 
New  Year,  1866,  395 
New  York,  108,  169,  245,  254,  2=^6, 

355.  477,   515,  537,  545.  654,  655, 

657,  660,  661  and  n ,  713 
New    York    and    Florida    Lumber 

Co.,  670,  671 
New   York  Daily  News,  293 
New  York  Herald,  271 
New  York  Times,  410,  451,  712 
New  York   Tribune,  451 
New  York  troops,  121,  289,  308,  338 
New  York  Warehouse  and  Security 

Co.,  656 
New  York  World,  2g3 
Niagara,  U.  S.  ship,  iM. 
Niblack,  Silas,  628 
Nickels,  M.,  negro,  5/5,  577 
Nicolay,  J.,  102 
Nitre,  surrendered,  329 
Noble,  Col.  W.  H.  (U.  S.  A.),  305 

n.,  306 
Nominations,    party,    41,    366,    509, 

521  n.,  523,  618-620,  638,  639,  689- 

691 
Norfolk,  Va.,  391 
North    Carolina,   324   n.,   402,   496, 

655,  656-659 
Northerners,  244-246,  478-482 
Notes.  Treasury,  177-183,  362  and  n. 
Noyes,  Ex-Gov.  of  Ohio,  714,  715, 

73^ 


Oak  Field,  Fla.,  167 

Oaths,   formal,   152,  467,  491 

Oats,  J.,  negro,  428  i^nd  n.,  493  n., 

495 
Ocala,  460 
Ocean  Pond,  283 
Offices,  Federal,  543  and  n.,  544 
Offices,  State,  543 
Officials,  Confederate,  190,  igi,  192, 

193 
Officials.    Federal    Civil,    350,    351, 

473    and    n.,    476,    504,    530,    543. 

599.  709 
Officials.    State,    380,    533-536,    648, 

649,  666,  6gg 
Oliver,  J.  B.,  526  n. 
Olustee,  233,  254,  271,  280,  283,  285, 

287,  291,  292,  293,  296 


Opdyke,  G.,  355 

Orangeburg  (b.  C.)   Tirhes,  451 

Orange  County,  468  n. 

Ordinance  of  Secession,  64,  361 

Ordinance,  convention,   1868,  501 

Ordnance  Bureau,  Confederate,  293 

Orlando,  538  n. 

Osborn,  T.  W.,  375,  378,  380-382, 
386,  389,  393-395.  400,  401.  405, 
473  and  n.,  476,  477  and  n.,  489, 
493  n.,  496,  503,  510,  532,  542- 
547.  555.  611,  614,  615,  630,  640, 
644,  655,  656,  667 

Ottawa,  U.  S.  ship,  303 

Overseer,  211-214,  223 

Owens,  J.  B.,  39  n.,  40 


Palatka,    232,    235,    299,    302,    304, 

471  n. 
Panic  1837,  25-26,  30 
Papy,   M.   D.,   332  n.,  412,  434  n., 

459,  556 
Pardons,  436,  665 
Parkhill,  G.  W.,  58 
Paroling   of    Confederate   soldiers, 

328 
Party,  see  jJemocratic,  Whig,  Re- 
publican. 
Pasco,  S.,  669  n.,  682 
Potomac  River,  688 
Patriotism,  347 

Patrols,  citizen,  220,  221  and  n. 
Patronage,   Federal,   350,   542,  543, 

731,  732 
Pay,     convention     delegates,     1868, 

508 
Peabody,  C.  A.,  355 
Pearce,  C.   H.,  negro,  493  n.,  496. 

502,   514  and  n.,   554  n.,   559  n., 

638  n.,  66=;,  666 
Pearson,  J.  W.,  258  and  n. 
Peas,  191,  215,  403 
Peeler,  A.  J.,  412,  484  and  n.,  485, 

487,  537  n,  556,  636  n.    _ 
Pelot,  Mr.,  temporary  chairman  of 

secession  convention,  56 
Peonage,  semi-,  365 
I'elton,  Col.  W.  T.,  729  and  n. 
Pemberton,  Gen.  J.  C.   (C.  S.  A.). 

148 
Pennsylvania.  245,  254.  477,  523 
Pensacola.  Fla.,  8-10,  16,  24,  53,  54. 

91-94,  99-101,   108,    109,   135,   144. 

145,    164-169,    182,   233,   307,   308, 

338  n.,  360  n..  405,  434  n.,  453,  45^ 


INDEX 


763 


and   n.,   471    n.,    481    n.,   489,   521 

and  n.,  549,  563  and  n.,  652,  653, 

658,  702,  708,  714 
Pensacola    and    Georgia    Railroad, 

658 
Pensacola  bay,    107,   117,    121,    138, 

148,  167,  311 
Pensacola,  Jacksonville,  and  Mobile 

R.  R.,  615 
Perdido,  708 
Perdido  bay,   116 
Perdido  river,  310 
Perrine,  H.,  31  n. 
Perry,  M.  S.,  37,  45,  48,  49,  53,  61, 

63,. 69,  70-73,  88,  89,  92,  94,  142 
Petition    on    provisional    governor- 
ship, 1865,  355 
"  Pet  Lambs,"  121 
Picnic,  negro,  457-458,  459 
Picolata,  300,  307 
Pierce,  S.  J.,  494  n. 
Pittman,  F.  F.,  434  n. 
Physicians,  213,  244 
Phillips.   Wendell,  485 
Philadelphia,  434,  713,  731 
Planters.    Southern,    340.    341,    344, 

381,  389,  394.  396,  399.  597 
Plantz,  H.  G.,  535  n.,  589 
Platforms,  political,  1876,  692,  693 
Plato,  321 
Police,  secret,  544 
Polk  County.  468  n.,  494  n. 
Polls,  622.  623,  629,  642,  643,   705- 

707 
Pollard,  Ed.,  319,  328 
Ponce  De  Leon,  4.  8 
Poorhouse.  682,  684 
Poor  whites,  21,  22,  29,  50,  51,  399, 

400  and  n. 
Pooser.  R.,  negro,  559  n. 
Pope,  MaJ.-Gen.  John   (U.  S.  A.), 

284.  454,  455,  463,  464,  466,  467, 

469.  475,  491,  497  and  n.,  512 
Population.  88  n.,  218,  283  and  n., 

451,  469,  470  and  n.,  483,  583 
Pork,  186,  188,  215,  270  and  n. 
Porter,    Admiral    D.    (U.    S.    N.). 

167.   168 
Port  Roval,  S.  C.  150,  151,  i53,  27S 
Post  Offices,  U.  S..  86-87,  332.  463. 

474  n.,  503.  543 
Potatoes,  215 

Potter,  The  War  in  Florida.  31 
"(Potter  Committee."  733 
Powhatan,  U.  S.  ship.  114 
(Powell,  Sergeant  fU.  S.  A.).  72 


Powell,  J.  W.,  493  n. 

Preachers,  165,  213,  336,  337,  3f>9, 
457,  496,  497,  665 

Precinct  No.  3,  Key  West,  722,  727 

Prejudice,  406,  409 

Presbyterian  Church,  19,  39,  495 

President,  U.  S.,  99,  102,  103,  106, 
332,  337^  364.  377,  399,  409.  428, 
430,  432,  439,  448,  541,  564 

Presidential  electors,  541,  715  n. 

Press,  The  Northern,  293 

Price,  J.  W.,  355  n.,  535  n. 

iPrices,  186 

Princeton     Theological     Seminary, 

494. 
Printing.  508,  650 
Prison,  State,  681.  684 
Probate,  judges  of,  188,  190 
Processions,  negro,  237,  402,  428  n., 

457,  538-540 
Property,   34,   53,  381,   382   and  n., 

651  and  n.,  673,  676,  677 
Property-holders,  597.  600.  683 
Proscription,     political.     1867,    467, 

468 
Public   opinion,   346.   349,   367,  371, 

398,  442.  444,  447 
Purchas,  Samuel,  4  and  n. 
Purchase  of  Florida,  11  and  n. 
Purman,  W.  L,  403,  477  and  n.,  493, 

496,  502.  503,  560,  561,  565  n..  567 

and   n.,    568,    571.    577.    584,   604, 

608,  624,  630,  638  n..  639,  640,  643, 

66G.  675,  689,  710,  734  n. 
Putnam,  E.  A.,  366  n. 
Putnam    County,    467    n.,    468    n., 

494  n. 

0 

Quincy.  16,  39.  41,  91,  186,  268,  271, 
385,  374  n.,  427,  453,  481  n.,  488 
n.,  489,  520.  521,  609,  622,  626, 
640,  653.  658.  702 

Quincy  Commonwealth,  newspaper, 
447 

Quorum,  1868,  554,.  555 

Quo  warranto,  against  Gleason,  555 


Race  War,  426,  457,  458.  486.  563, 

573^577,  579,  587 
Raiding.   171.  173,  232,  233  and  n., 
I      260,    277-279.    284,    301.    303-306, 
I      309-311 

I  Raleigh,  Sir  Walter.  3 
'  Ramah.  a  voice  in.  320 


764 


INDEX 


Rambauer,  R.  T.,  494  n. 
Randall,  Judge  E.  M.,  534,  635 
Randall,  Thos.,  352,  434  n.,  484  n., 

537  n. 
Randolph,  Capt.,  of  Ala.,  80  n.,  81, 

84 
Raney,   G.   P.,  613,  616  n.,  636  n., 

72Z 

Rangers,  258  and  n.,  259 

Ranjel,  account  of  Dc  Soto's  expe- 
dition, 10  n. 

Rape,  418,  421,  486  n. 

Rations,  283,  284,  378,  382,  403 

"'Rebels,"  344,  346,  505 

Recks,  J.  W.,  431  n.,  440-442,  480  n. 

Reconstruction,    172,   252,   255,   272, 

275,  349.  359,  372 

"  Reconstruction  Committee,"  440- 
442 

Reconstruction  Acts,  440,  446,  447, 
450,  454,  455,  464.  466.  470,  474, 
478,  483,  512,  52s 

Recruitment.  91,  93-95,  295 

Reed.  H.,  272  n.,  351-353.  355  n., 
363  n.,  471  n.,  473,  477  and  n., 
503,  523.  526-535,  =41-556.  559  n., 
565,  567,  577,  578,  6i2,-  613.  615, 
617,  629-638,  650-656,  660,  668, 
671,  677,  679  and  n.,  684 

Reeve's  BIufT,  313 

Reform,  703 

Refugees,  265.  284 

Registration,  360  and  n.,  401  n., 
447,  466.  470,  474,  488,  491  and  n., 
526  and  n.,  528,  541,  704,  719 

Regulators,  43-44,  158.  541,  563, 
568,  573,  668  n.,  694,  69s,  704,  706 

Removals  by  military,  464,  612  n. 

Renshaw,  Lt.   (U.  S.  N.).  75  n. 

Reorganization.  346 

Repeaters,  1876,  706 

Representation,  511 

Republican  Club,  Jacksonville,  472 
and  n.,  473.  474 

Republican,  Savannah,  newspaper, 
369.  493 

Repudiation  of  debts.  358,  360,  362 
and  n.,  363 

Rerick,  R.  H.,  Memoirs  of  Flor- 
ida, 10  n..  626.  627 

Resignations,  247.  248  n. 

Retrenchment,  620 

Rhode  Island,  254 

Rhodes.  J.  F..  3 

Ricco's  Bluffs,  164 

Richards.  Dan..  470-472,  447  and  n.. 


489,  493  n-.  496,  499-504,  509  and 
n.,  510,  514  and  n.,  522,  523,  555, 
610 

Richards,  J.  C,  494  n. 

Richardson,     S.     P.,     Lights     and 
Shadows,  326  n. 

Richmond,  U.  S.  ship,  134 

Richmond,    Examiner,     newspaper, 
294 

Ricks,  J.  W.,  382  n.,  525  n. 

'■  Rings,"  Republican,  352.  515,  689, 
690 

Rio  Grande  river,  688 

Riot,  27,  575 

Road,  St.  Augustine,  16,  25 

Robbery,  418 

Rogers,  Congressman,  440 

Roberts,  R.  W.,  640 

Robertson,  F.  L.,  Soldiers  of  Flor- 
ida, 94  n.,  322  n. 

Robertson,       William,       Historical 
works  of,  18 

Robinson,    C.   L.,   251,  295   n.,   353, 
355  n.,  356,  435  n.,  472  n.,  473,  S28 
'■  Robinson,  S.,  505 
i  Robinson's  Spring.  571 
I  Rodgers,   G.   W.    (U.   S.   N.).   159, 
j      160 

I  Rogers,  C,  negro,  571   and  n..  572, 
i      575  n.,  577 

Rogers,  St.  G.,  539  n. 

Rogers,  W.,  494  n. 

Rollin's  Ancient  History.  18 

Roundtree,  D.,  negro,  559  n. 

Rowley,  L.  W.,  493  n. 

Rufnn,  E..  Commissioner  from  Vir- 
ginia, 59 

Ruger,  Gen.,  (U.  (S.  A.),  702,  703  n. 

Ruskin,  John,  322 

Russell,  W.  H..  war  correspondent, 
103,  117,  120,  121 

Rutledge.  Rt.  Rev.  Bish.,  57 


Sabine,  U.  S.  ship,  no 
Salaries,  .380,  543,  545,  648-650 
Sale  of  property  for  debt,  30,  501. 

657,  658,  678 
Salt,  191,  197,  203-209,  212,  266,  278 
Sammis,  J.  S.,  272  n.,  295  n. 
Sanderson,  161.  283,  287 
Sanderson.  J.  T.,  556 
Sanchez,  Mr.,  232 
Sandhill.  Lake  country,  305 
Saint  John,  "  Isle  "  of,  4 


INDEX 


76: 


Santa  Rosa  island,  77,  109,  120,  121, 

125-127,  132,  133,  138,  167 
Santa  Rosa  County,  427,  431,  468  n., 

493  n.,  59 1 
Santo  Domingo,  106 
Satterlee,  H.,  negro,  456,  459 
Saunders,  W.  U.,  negro,  208,  302, 

307,  470-473,  489,  493  n.,  496,  499, 

500,  502,  509,  514  and  n.,  522,  524 

and  n.,  610,  611  and  n.,  642,  700 
Savannah,    Ga..   92,    192,    193,    270, 

277,  282,  297,  652 
Saw-mills,    33,    165,    ^66,    303,    373, 

397,  453 
Sawyer,   Oscar,   of  N.    Y.  Herald, 

279  n. 
Saxton.   Gen.   R.    (U.   S.   A.),  228, 

231,  234,  239 
Scalawags,    406,    474,   478-483,    488, 

493-496,  525,  529,  534,  548  n.,  558, 

592,  609.  630,  638 
Schmidt,  Capt.   (U.  S.  A.),  report, 

308 
Schofield,  J.,  Sec.  of  War,  541,  565, 

578 
Scofield,  G.  W.,  Congressman,  585 
Schools,  235,  236  and  n.,  380,  385 

and  n.,  386-389,  420,  421,  475,  683, 

684,  699 
Scott,  G.  W.,  434  n.,  521,  527  and  n. 
Scott,  Sir  W.,  Prose  Works,  18 
Scott,  Gen.  W.  (U.  S.  A.),  70,  102 

n.,  104,  108,  114 
Scrip,  508,  544,   546,  654,  671,  678, 

679 
Sea  Horse  Key,  152 
Sea  Islands.  154 
"  Sebastopol  of  America,"  122 
Seal,  State,  550  and  n. 
Secession,  48,  49,  59,  60.  55-65,  I7S. 

176,  251,  275,  360,  590 
Secret    Societies,    negro,    374,    375 

and  n.,  376,  401,  456,  459,  462,  471 

and  n.,  473.  476  n.,  486,  510,  514, 

524,  561,  562,  606 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  U.  S..  276 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  U.   S., 

350 
Sect,  of  War,  Confed.,  106,  194,  224 
Sect,  of  War,  U.  S.,  102,  514,  541, 

565 
Seddon,  J.  A.,  Sect,  of  War,  194 
Seminoles,   Indians,  30,  31   and  n., 

42 
Senate,  U.  S.,  366.  401.  428,  429,  439, 

440,  532.  542.  585,  666 


Senate,   Fla.,  437,  554  and  n.,  555, 
6i2  and  n.,  617  n.,  629,  631,  632, 

734     . 
Senatobie  Invincibles,  115 
Sequestration,  195,  249,  590,  591 
Seward,  W.  H.,  105,  294,  367 
Sexual  Morality,  421 
Seymour,  H.,  537 
Seymour,  Gen.  T.   (U.  S.  A.),  277, 

281,  :?83,  292,  294 
Shake  Rug  Corner,  305 
Shea,  J.  G.,  4  n. 
Sheep,  18S 

Sheriff,  195,  360,  603,  623 
Sherman,  Gen.  T.  W.   (U.  S.  A.), 

150,  159,  169.  250,  251 
Sherman,  Gen.  W.  T.,  326,  714 
Sherman-Johnston  Truce,  326,  327 
Sherman's  Senate  Bill,  445 
Shipley,  Lt.  (U.  S.  A.),  126 
Ships,  201,  202  and  n. 
Shorter,  J.   G.,  Gov.  of  Ala.,   164, 

204  n. 
Simpkins,  Mr.,  232 
Simpson,  J.,  616  n. 
Skirmishing,  279,  280,  284,  299-316 
Slavery,  31,  36,  38,  52,  53,  211,  212, 

218-224.    238-242,    324,    340,    347, 

348,  3.S8,   361,  362,  365,  372,  412, 

517,  569,  592 
Slemmer.  Capt.  A.  (U.  S.  A.),  74, 

75,  77-80,  84,  85,   103,  107,   112 
Small-pox,  384 
Smith,    G.,    History    of    Wesleyan 

Methodism,  19  n. 
Smith,  Capt.  (U.  S.  A.),  453 
Smith,  Mr.,  554  n. 
Smith,  Buckingham.  8  n.,  295  n. 
Smith,    Col.    C.    (C.    S.    A.),    291 

and  n. 
Smith,  C.  H.,  537  n. 
Smith,  J.  W.,  295  n. 
Smith,  M.,  negro,  570 
Smith,  R.,  negro,  580 
Smith,  S.,  35  n. 
Solano,  M.,  434  n. 
Soldiers'    families,     188.     189,     191, 

201  n. 
Soulter  and  Co.,  656,  660 
South  Carolina,  20,  59,  60,  269.  324 

and  n.,  402,  450 
South  Carolina  troops,  296 
South   Fla.,   222,   234,   270  n.,   289, 

300,  314-  434 
Southern  Navigation  and  Improve- 
ment Co.,  670  and  n.,  671,  672 


766 


INDEX 


"  Southern  Rights  Association,"  35 

Spain,  8,  9,  11 

Speculation,    183    and    n.,    184,    204 

and  n.,  250,  302  n. 
Speed,  Atty.-Gen.,  354,  355 
Speeches,    1867,   456-460,    475,    486, 

487,  503,  534  and  n. 
Sprague,  Col.  J.  T.  (U.  S.  A.),  31, 

392,  396,  401  n.,  402.  403.  443,  453. 

454,  461,  466,  514,  532,  533  and  n., 

591 

Spratt,  L.  W.,  of  S.  C,  59,  60,  82 

Spurling,  Col.  A.  B.  (U.  S.  A.), 
312  n. 

St.  Andrews  bay,  154,  197.  260 
209,  233,  265  n.,  310,  313 

St.  Augustine,  8,  9,  10  n.,  91,  156, 
159,  160,  162,  169,  202,  235,  2S7, 
254,  257,  265  n.,  272,  275,  293,  305- 
307,  385  and  n.,  403,  427,  471  n., 
483,  488,  534  n.,  586,  653,  666,  702 

St.  Georges  sound,  207 

St.  Johns  County,  468  n.,  487,  494  n. 

St.  Johns  Bluff,  145,  170,  171 

St.  Johns  river,  9,  144,  147,  157, 
170,  172,  198,  229,  230,  258,  268, 
277.  299-301,  306,  652,  653 

St.  Johns  and  Halifax  Navigation 
and  Improvement  Co.,  667 

St.  Joseph,  24,  25 

St.  Josephs  Bay,  205 

St.    Marks,   8,   24,   33,    198,   265   n.. 

314,  327 
St.  Marks  bay,  208 
St.  Marks  river,  314,  315 
St.  Marys  river,  9,  279,  283,  286,  304 
St.  Vincent's  Island,  145 
Stanley,  G.  A.,  541  n. 
Stanton,  Sect,  of  War,  U.  S.,  169, 

276,  335.  553 
"Star  of  th;  West,"  63 
Starke,  Fla.,  186,  305.  396 
Starvation,   270 

State  Seminarv,  Cadets  of,  314 
State  Canvassing  Board,  see  Board. 
Station  No.  4,  313 
Stealing,  31  and  n.,  403,  404 
Stearns,  M.  L.,  403,  514  n..  612.  622- 

624,  638,  6'JO  and  n.,  666,  689,  690, 

693  n.,  698-702,  711,  713.  714.  731- 

734.  735 
Steedman,  Gen.  J.   B.   (U.  S.  A.), 

383,  394  n.,  396.  404 
Stellwagen   (U.  S.  N.),  163 
Stephens.  Mr.,  707.  708 
Stephens,  Alex.  H..  123 


Stevens,  Capt.  (U.  S.  A.),  158,  159 
Stevens,  Thad.,  349,  523  n.,  532 
Stewart,  640  n. 
Stickney,    Mr..    237,    272-274,    281, 

352,  528,  545  n. 
Stonelake,  Mr.,  352  n.,  393 
Strickland,  W.  W.,  263 
Subsistence     Department,     U.     S., 

265  n. 
Suffrage,  negro,  351,  352,  363,  364, 

36s,  371  and  n.,  376,  410,  411,  429. 

436-438,  442,  456,  513,  615 
Sugar,  186,  192,  215,  270  n.,  329 
Sullivan,  S.,  negro,  570 
Sumner,   Chas.,  349,   365,  366,  411, 

429,  439,  442,  552 
Sumpter    County,    468    n.,    494   n., 

627  n.,  690 
Superintendent  of  Negro  Schools, 
386,  387,  535  n. 
Supply,  U.  S.  ship,  76,  79,  85 
Suppression    of    free    speech,    336, 

337 
Supreme  Ct.,  Fla.,  193,  444,  445,  449 
Surrender,  the,  in  Fla.,   1865,  325- 

329 
Surveyor,  County,  535  n. 
Surveyor-General,  State,  546 
Suwanee    County,    468   n.,    494   n., 

559  n.,  560  n.,  581,  582,  627  n. 
Suwanee  river,  15,  284,  313 
Swepson,  Geo..  616,  655-663 
Syrup,  403 


Tacitus,  writings  of,  18 

Tallahassee,  12  n.,  13,  38-40,  64-67, 
143,  148,  186,  314,  316  n.,  325,  328, 
336-338,  360  n.,  380,  382.  38s  n., 
391,  392,  408,  411,  427,  428  and  n., 
432,  4/3,  456,  460.  461  n.,  464.  471 
n.,  474,  481  n..  483,  485,  487,  489. 
500,  504-506,  509,  512,  513,  521. 
531,  534.  5^7-539-  546  n.,  562,  567, 
577,  578,  586,  588,  618,  624.  634 
638,  658,  660,  665,  702,  706,  710, 
713.  714.  723,  724,  735,  738 

Tallahassee  Railroad,  658 

Tallahassee  Sentinel,  newspaper, 
447,  663 

Tampa,  144  n.,  186.  198,  202,  203. 
209,  233,  301,  329-  360  n.,  427,  433, 
434  n.,  498,  591,  702 

Tannerhill.  Mr.,  640  n. 

Tax  commissioners,  Federal,  232, 
237.  254.  272.  352 


INDEX 


767 


Taxes,  Confed.,  185,  186 

Taxes,  Federal,  484,  485  n. 

Taxes,  state  and  local,  179  n.,  185, 
331,  382  n.,  418  and  n.,  475,  535  n., 
583,  584,  598-601.  619  and  n., 
650,  651,  672-678,  692,  698,  703 

Taylor  County,  259,  260  n.,  261, 
264  n.,  457,  465,  468  n.,  494  n., 
558  and  n.,  560  n.,  580,  582,  627  n. 

Teachers  in  negro  schools,  380, 
386-389.  420,  699 

Telegraph,  77,  152,  325,  545  n.,  651, 
710,  714 

Tennessee,   15,  33,  656  n. 

Terry.  Gen.  A.  H.  (U.  S.  A.),  241 

Test  Oath,  Federal,  365  n.,  366,  444, 
445  and  n. 

Texas,  324  n.,  440 

Thayer,  Eli,  255,  257 

Theft,  398 

Third  Military  District,  454,  484 

Thomas.  Gen.  L.  (U.  S.  A.),  132 

Thompson,  Mr.,  594 

"  Tidal    Wave,"    Democratic,    1874, 

643 
Tidwell,  Judge  B.  F..  602 
Tilden,  S.  J.,  728,  736 
Timber,  166,  246,  313,  670 
Times,  New  York,  257,  343 
Times,  Ta'lahassee,  newspaper,  476 
Time,  C.  S.,  steamer,  127 
Tire.  Mr.,  594 
"Tithe,"  187-191 
Tobacco,  197,  210 
Torpedo,  Confederate,  299-301 
Tracy,  E.  D.,  361 
Trade  with  Indians,  8-9 
Transports,  Federal,  314 
Trapier,    Brig.-Gen.    J.    H.    (C.    S. 

A.),  145  and  n.,  147,  157 
Treason,   charges   of,  334-336,  441, 

442 
Treasury,  State,  672,  678 
Treasury  agents.  Federal,  232.  280, 

330,  331,  352,  357,  375,  381,  382  n., 

390,  470,  525  n. 
Treasury  Department,  U.  S.,  254 
Treasury  notes.  177  and  n.,  178,  179, 

180  and  n..  181  and  n. 
Trespass,  malicious,  418 
Trial,  impeachment  of  Reed,  636 
Tribune,  New  York.  344,  505 
Trimmer.  Wm..  94,  373  n. 
Troops  from  Fla.,  322,  323  and  n. 
Trout  creek,  303 
Truman,  Benjamin.  362,  365  n.,  367 


and  n.,  370  n.,  371  n.,  372  n.,  373 

n.,  402,  422  n. 
Trustees  of  Internal  Improvement 

Fund,  657,  658,  661,  670-672 
Turkey,  731 

Turnbull,  Dr.,  colony  of.  10 
Turpentine,    197,   201,   295,    373   n., 

397 
Tutson,  S.,  negro,  559  n.,  593.  594, 
601  n. 


Underwood,  Mr.,  544  n. 

Union    Leagues,    375    and    n.,   376, 

459,  471  and  n.,  484,  524,  562,  579, 

606 
Union   men,    44,    157-159,    166,   243. 

245,  248,  253  n.,  259.  275,  280,  308, 

333,  354,   355,  429,  472.  476,  504, 

521,  590,  591 
Union  party,  433 

Union-Conservative  party,  350,  483 
Union-jRepublican    party,    366,    375, 

437,  474 
Union   soldiers   from   Florida,   322, 

323 

Union  Trust  Company.  670 
United  States,  112,  113,  497 


Vacancies  in  office,  463.  545  and  n., 

548  and  n.,  551,  555 
Vagrancy,    398,    400,    415,    417-419. 

422,  423,  433 
Vanderbilt.  U.  S.,  ship,  121 
Van  Ess.  Maj.  (U.  S.  A.),  487 
Vance,  T.  W.,  731 
Vance,  Gov.  Z.,  of  North  Carolina, 

333  n.,  33J 
Vermont,  251.  254.  511 
Veto,  President's,  428,  429,  446,  531 
Veto,  Reed's.  545,  547,  551 
"Vigilant    Committees,"    i860,    38, 

43.  44 
Villenigue.  F.  L.,  68 
Virginia.  15,  20,  59,  114,  324  n.,  402, 

656  n. 
Virginia  troops,  296 
Volunteers.  38,  143.  230-233.  246  n. 
Vogdes.   Gen.   I.    (U.   S.   A.),   104. 

108.  114.  131,  327-  338,  341 
Volusia   County,   302,   305-307,  468 

n.,  494  n. 
Voorhees   Congressman  D.  W.,  585 
Vose,  F.,  670  n. 


768 


INDEX 


Votes  cast,  36,  46,  365,  366,  492, 
527,  528,  627  n.,  628,  629,  640  and 
n.,  642,  715  n.,  718,  721  n.,  722, 
727,  7Z3,  734,  736  and  n., 

Voting,  371  n.,  491,  705-707 

W 

Wade,  Benj.,  536,  537 

Wages,  224,  358,  393-398,  419,  452 

and  n.,  501,  597  and  n. 
Wakulla   County,   62,   465,   468   n., 

487,  493  n.,  681  n. 
Wakulla  river,  314 
Waldo,  329,  396,  708 
Walker,   D.   S.,   218,   355,   356,   366 

and  n.,  368,  387,  406,  409,  410,  430, 

432,    434-437,    444,    460,    464,    S12 

and  n,  532,  539,  555  n. 
Walker,  G.  W.,  434  n.,  493  n. 
Walker,  L.  P.,  Sect,  of  War,  C.  S., 

111,  112 

Walker,  Sam.,  525,  527  and  n.,  613 
Wallace,   John,   negro,   361   n.,  422 

and  n.,  428  n.,  459,  471  n.,  473  n., 

577,  593,  613,  625  n.,  691,  698-700, 

735 
Wallace,  Lew,  of  Indiana,  715,  731 
Walton    County,    62,    64,   257,    311, 

468  n.,  488,  493  n. 
Wall,  Judge,  192 
Wall  Street  (N.  Y.),  29,  34,  35 
Walls,    J.   T.,   negro,    494   n.,   619, 

627,  629,  639,  640,  642 
War  debt,  181,  360,  362,  363 
War  Department,   C.   S.,    no,    in, 

112,  140,  144,  147,  193,  198,  22s 
War   Department,  U.    S.,    109.   377, 

380,  533  n. 
War  tax,  179 
Ward,  G.  T.,  62,  222 
Ware,  E.  L.,  494  n. 
Warrenton,  village,  113,  122 
Warrock,  J.  W.,  535  n. 
Washburne,    Congressman    E.     B., 

440 
Washington,  L.  Q.,  78,  in,  112 
Washington,  D.  C.,  355  and  n.,  433, 

442,  45S,  522,  523,  543,  728,  736, 
„  737 . 
Washington   County,   62,    260,   311, 

466  n.,  493  n. 
Wassassee  river,  310 
Waukeena.  485,  539  n. 
Webster.  Bureau  agent.  382  n. 
Weeks.  Edwin.  616.  629,  630  and  n. 


Weeks,    Maj.    E.    C.    (U.    S.    A.), 

309  n. 
Welaka,  302,  307 
Welch,  A.  S.,  531,  532 
Welles,  Gideon,  109,  no,  276,  294 
Wells,  Rich.,  514  n. 
Wescott,  J.  D.,  460,  534  n.,  535 
West,  T.  W.,  578 
West  Indies,  197 
Western  Carolina  Railroad,  662 
Wharton,  George,  97 
Wheeler,  W.  A.,  728 
Whigs,  27,  32,  36,  366  and  n.,  521, 

664 
Whipping,  221,  344,  405  and  n.,  406, 

416,  417,  419,  420,   564,  580,  581, 

587,  594,  603,  604 
Whiskey,  215,  465,  505,  601,  602,  614 
White  counties,  581  n. 
White,  Mr.,  616  n. 
White,  L.,  559  n. 
White,  Maj.  P.  W.  (C.  S.  A.)„  and 

Judge,  269,  270,  271,  626,  627  n., 

669 
White,  T.  W.,  521  and  n. 
Whites,  Southern,  347,  461 
Whittier,  J.  W.,  "Boatman's  Song." 

237 
"  Wide  Awakes,"  42 
Wigfall,  Mr.  L.  T.,  119 
Wilson,  Col.  "Billie"   (U.  S.  A.), 

121,  129,  130,  133,   168 
Wilson,  Henry,  31  n.,  536,  640 
Wilson,  Gen.  J.  H.  (U.  S.  A.),  326, 

332 
Wilson.  Lemuel,  354,  355  n.,  604 
Williams,  J.  J.,  41  n.,  399,  400 
Williams,  U.  S.  Senator,  440 
Wisconsin,  477,  478,  523  and  n. 
Wise,  Gen.  H.  (C.  S.  A.),  282 
Witherspoon,    George    W.,    negro, 

644 
Witnesses,  admission  of  blacks  as. 

358,  58s 
Wives,  black.  341 
Wyandotte,  U.  S.  ship,  1861,  85,  no, 

114 
Wyatt,  J.,  negro,  493  n. 
Wolf,  J.  D.  (U.  S.  A.),  456 
Woodhull,  Comd.  (U.  S.  N.),  268 
Woods.  Justice,  672 
Wool-Cards.  189  and  n. 
Wooley,  C.  W..  729  n. 
WooUesley,  village,  122 
Worden.  Lt.  J.  L.  (U.  S.  N.),  no, 

III 


INDEX 


769 


Wright,  B.  D.,  434  n. 
Wright,  Gen.  H.   (U.  S.  A.),  151, 
153,  156,  172 


Yellow  Bluff,  623 

Yellow  river,  308,  309 

Yonge,  C.  C,  100  n.,  191 

Yonge,  P.  K.,  50  n. 

Yulee,  D.  L.,  41,  61,  66,  69,  70,  83, 


86,  87  and  n.,  100  and  n.,  lOi,  146 

and  n.,  153,  192,  194,  332  n.,  334- 

336,  698 
Young,  Capt.  (U.  S.  A.),  306 
Young  Men's  Democratic  Club,  561- 

564 


Zouave  regiments   (C.  S.  A.),  118, 
121,  129,  130,  234 


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2.  The  Budget  In  the  American  Commonwealths. 

By  EuGBNB  E.  Agger,  Ph.D.    Price,  ^1.50. 

3.  The  Finances  of  Cleveland.  By  Charles  C.  Williamson,  Ph.D.    Price,  I2.00. 

VOLUME  XXVI,  1907.    559  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  Trade  and  Currency  In  Early  Oregon.  By  James  H.  Gilbert,  Ph.D.    Price,  ^i.oo. 

8.  Luther's  Table  TalK.  By  Prbsbrvbd  Smith,  Ph.D.    Price,  Ji.oo. 

3.  The  Tobacco  Industry  In  the  United  States. 

By  Mbyer  Jacobstbin,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 

4.  Social  Democracy  and  Population.  By  Alvan  A,  Tknney,  Ph.D.    Price,  75  cents. 

VOLUME  XXVII,  1907.    578  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  The  Economic  Policy  of  Robert  Walpole.    By  NokrisA.  Brisco,  Ph.D.  Price,  $1.50. 

5.  The  United  States  Steel  Corporation.      By  Abraham  Bbrglund,  Ph.D.  Price,  $1.50. 
3.  The  Taxation  of  Corporations  In  Massachusetts. 

By  Harry  G,  Friedman,  Ph.D.  Price,  $1.50. 

VOLUME  XXVIII,  1907.    564  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  DeWltt  Clinton  and  the  Origin  of  the  Spoils  System  In  New  York. 

By  Howard  Leb  McBain,  Ph.  D.     Price,  $i.5a 

2.  The  Development  of  the  Legislature  of  Colonial  Virginia. 

By  Elmer  I.  Miller,  Ph.D.     Price,  fi.50. 

3.  The  Distribution  of  Ownership.    ByJosEPH  Harding  Underwood,  Ph.D.    Price,fi.SO. 

VOLUME  XXIX,  1908.    703  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  Early  New^  England  Tow^ns.  By  Anne  Bush  MacLear,  Ph.D.    Price,  I1.50. 

2.  New  Hampshire  as  a  Royal  Province.  By  William  H.  Fry,  Ph.D.    Price,  $3.00. 

VOLUME  XXX,  1908.    712  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50;  paper  covers,  $4.00. 

The  Province  of  New  Jersey,  1664—1738.  By  Edwin  P.  Tanner,  Ph.D. 

VOLUME  XXXI,  1908.    575  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  Private  Freight  Cars  and  American  Railroads. 

By  L.  D,  H.  Wbld,  Ph.D.    Price,  Jx.50. 

2.  Ohio  before  1850.  By  Robert  E.  Chaddock,  Ph.D.    Price,  J1.50. 

3.  Consanguineous  Marriages  In  the  American  Population. 

By  George  P.  Louis  Akner,  Ph.D.     Price,  75  cents. 

4.  Adolphe  Quetelet  as  Statistician.  By  Frank  H.  Hankins,  Ph.D.    Price,  $1.25. 

VOLUME  XXXII,  1908.    705  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50;  paper  covers,  $4.00. 

The  Enforcement  of  the  Statutes  of  Laborers.         By  Bertha  Haven  Putnam,  Ph.D. 

VOLUME  XXXIII,  1908-1909.    635  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  Factory  Legislation  In  Maine.  By  E.  Stagg  Whitin,  A.B.    Price,  Ji.oo. 

2.  *  Psychological  Interpretations  of  Society, 

By  Michabl  M.  Davis,  Jr.,  Ph  D.    Price,  |3.oo. 
8.  *An  Introduction  to  the  Sources  relating  to  the  Germanic  Invasions. 

By  Carlton  Huntley  Hayes,  Pn.D.    Price,  Jx-jo. 


VOLUME  XXXIV,  1909.    628  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  [80]  Transportation  and  Industrial  Development  In  the  Middle  West. 

By  William  F.  Gephart,  Ph.D.     Price,  fs.oo. 
9.  [90]  Social  Reform  and  the  Reformation. 

l!y  Jacob  Salwyn  Schapiro,  Ph.D.    Price,  Ji.as. 

3.  [91]  Responsibility  for  Crime.  By  Philip  A.  Parsons,  Ph.D.    Price,  $1.50. 

VOLUME  XXXV,  1909.    568  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

I.  [92]  The  Conflict  over  the  Judicial  Powers  in  the  United  States  to  1870. 

By  Charles  Grove  Haines,  Ph.D.    Price,  $1.50. 
8.  [08]  A  Study  of  the  Population  of  Manhattan vllle. 

By  Howard  Brown  Woolston,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.25. 
8.  [94]  *  Divorce:  A  Study  In  Social  Causation. 

By  James  P.  Lichtbnbbrgek,  Ph.D.    Price,  J1.50. 

VOLUME  XXXVI,  1910.    542  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [95]  *  Reconstruction  in  Texas.      By  Charles  William  Ramsdell,  Ph.D.    Price  $2.50 
3.  [96]  *  The  Transition  In  Vlrarlnla  from  Colony  to  CommonTPealth. 

By  Charles  Ramsdell  Lincjley,  I'h.D.     Price,  $1.30. 

VOLUME  XXXVII,  1910.    606  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  [97]  Standards  of  Reasonableness  In  Local  Freight  Discriminations. 

By  John  Maurice  Clark,  Ph.D.     Price,  |i.«5. 

2.  [98]  Leeal  Development  In  Colonial  Massachusetts. 

By  Charles  J.  Hilkey,  Ph.D.    Price,  $1.35. 
8.  [99]  *  Social  and  Mental  Traits  of  the  Negrro. 

By  Howard  W.  Odum,  Ph.D.    Price,  ^2.00. 

VOLUME  XXXVin,  1910.    463  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $3.50. 

1.  [1001  The  Public  Domain  and  Democracy. 

By  Robert  Tudor  Hill,  Ph.D.     Price,  |a.oo. 

2.  [101]  Oraranlsmlc  Theories  of  the  State. 

By  Francis  W.  Coker,  Ph.D.    Price,  ^1.50. 

VOLUME  XXXIX,  1910-1911.    651  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  [103]  The  MakluK  of  the  Balkan  States. 

By  William  Smith  Murray,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 

3.  [103]  Political  History  of  New  York  State  during  the  Period  of  the  Civil 

War.  By  Sidney  David  Bkummbr,  Ph.  D.    Price,  3.00. 

VOLUME  XL,  1911.    633  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  [104]  A  Survey  of  Constitutional  Development  in  China. 

By  Hawkling  L.  Yen,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.00. 
8.  [105]  Ohio  Politics  during  the  Civil  War  Period. 

By  George  H.  Porter,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.75. 
3.  [106]  The  Territorial  Baslsof  Government  under  the  State  Constitutions. 

By  Alfred  Zantzingbr  Reed,  Ph.D.    Price,  Ji. 75. 

VOLUIVIE  XLI,  1911.    514  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $3.50;  paper  covers,  $3.00. 

[107]  New  Jersey  as  a  Royal  Province.  By  Edgar  Jacob  Fishbb,  Ph.  D. 

VOLUME  XLn,  191L    400  pp.    Price.cloth,  $3.00;  paper  covers,  $2.50. 

[108]  Attitude  of  American  Courts  In  Liabor  Cases. 

By  George  Gorham  Groat,  Ph.D. 

VOLUME  XLin,  1911.    633  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

I.  [109]  *lndustrlal  Causes  of  Congestion  of  Population  In  New  York  City. 

By  Edward  Ewing  Pratt,  Ph.D.    Price,  $2.00. 
8.  [1101  Education  and  the  Mores.  By  F.  Stuart  Chapin,  Ph.D.    Price,  75  cents. 

8.  [lllj  The  British  Consuls  In  the  Confederacy. 

By  Milledge  L.  Bonham,  Jr.,  Ph.D.    Price,  $2.00 

VOLUMES  XLIV  and  XLV,  1911.    745  pp. 
Price  for  the  two  volumes,  cloth,  $6.00 ;  paper  covers,  $5.00. 

lis  and  118]  The  Economic  Principles  of  Confucius  and  his  School. 

By  Chen  Huan-Chang,  Ph.D. 


VOLUME  XL VI,  1911-1912.    623  pp.    Price,  clotli,  $4.50. 

1.  ril4l  The  Rioardlan  Socialists.  By  Esthkr  Lowbkthal,  Ph.D.    Price,  fx.oo. 

2.  lll5j  Ibrahim  Pasha,  Grand  Vizier  of  Snlelman,  the  Magnificent. 

By  Hbstbr  Donaldson  Jbnkins,  Ph.D.    Pric«,  ^i.oo. 

3.  [116]  "The  Labor  Movement  In  France.    A  Study  of  French  Syndicalism. 

By  Louis  Lbvinb,  Ph.D.    Price,  |i.$o 

4.  [1171  *A  Hoosler  Vlllase*  Bt  Nbwbll  Lbrot  Sims,  Ph.D.    Price,  fi.50. 

VOLUME  XL Vn.  1912.    544  pp.    Price,  clotli.  $4.00. 

1.  [118]  The  Politics  of  Michigan,  1865-1878. 

By  Harriettb  M.Dilla,  Ph.  D.    Price,  |3.oo. 

2.  [119]  *The  United  States  Beet-Snsar  Industry  and  the  Tariff. 

By  Roy  G.  Blakey,  Ph.D.    Price,  Ja.oo. 

VOLUME  XL Vin,  1912.    493  pp.    Price,  clotli,  $4.00. 

1.  [ISO]  Isldor  of  Seville.  By  Ernbst  Brbhaut,  Ph.  D.    Price,  f2.o«>. 

2.  ri31]  Prosrress  and  Uniformity  In  Chlld-Iiabor  Lieslslatlon. 

By  William  Fibldinc  Ogburn,  Ph.D.    Price,  I1.75. 

VOLUME  XLIX,  1912.    592  pp.    Price,  clotli,  $4.50. 

1.  [138]  British  Radicalism  1791-1797.  By  Waltbr  Phblfs  Hall.    Price,  Ja.oo, 

2.  [183]  A  Comparative  Study  of  the  La-w  of  Corporations. 

By  Arthur  K.  Kuhn,  Ph.D.    Price  ^1.50. 

3.  [184]  *The  Nearro  at  Work  In  New  Tork  City. 

By  Gborob  £.  Haymbs,  Ph.D.    Price,  I1.35 

VOLUME  L,  1912.    481pp.    Price,  clotli,  $4.00. 

1.  [185]  The  Spirit  of  Chinese  Philanthropy.         By  Yai  Yue  Tsu.  Ph.D.    Price,  |i.oo. 
3.  [186]  *The  Allen  In  China.  By  Vi  Kyuin  Wblungton  Koo,  Ph.D.    Price,  J2.50. 

VOLUME  LI,  1912.    4to.  Atlas.    Price :  cloth,  $1.50;  paper  covers,  $1.00. 

1.  [187]  The  Sale  of  Lilqnor  In  the  South. 

By  Leonard  S.  Blakey,  Ph.D. 

VOLUME  LIT,  1912.    489  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [188]  ^Provincial  and  Local  Taxation  In  Canada. 

By  Solomon  Vinbbbrg,  Ph.D.    Price,  $1.50. 

5.  [189]  *The  Distribution  of  Income.  By  Frank  Hatch  Streightopf.    Price,  fi. 50. 
3.  [130]  *The  Finances  of  Vermont.  By  Frederick  A  Wood,  Ph.D.    Price,  fi  00. 

VOLUME  LIII,  1912.    769  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

[131]  The  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction  in  Florida.      By  W.  W.  Davis.    (Inpress.) 


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For  further  information,  apply  to 


Prof.  EDWIN  R.  A.  SELIGMAN,  Colombia  University, 

or  to  Messrs.  LONGMANS,  GREEN  &  CO.,  New  York. 
London:  P.  S.  KING  &  SON,  Orchard  House,  Westminster. 


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